The Un-told stories
by whatisthegreatperhaps
Summary: You heard the story of Rose and Dimitri, but what about some of the other girl dhampir's at the school. Eloise Kosev knows little about her background and is on a hunt to find out who her real family is. And on the way she falls in and out of love.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

I awoke in a cold sweat, Natalie's face hovering over mine. Pulling me out of my nightmare, she leaned into my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me. The light on my nightstand glowed dimly outlining the basic shapes in the room, Natalie's black hair framed her face as her eyes bored into mine, "Nightmare again?" I nodded slowly sitting up, "I heard you from across the hall." She said handing me a glass of water, "Did anyone else…?" She shook her head, "Their all used to it." She said, "Well thank god for that. Go back to bed Nat. I'm fine" she smiled and left my room. I rubbed my eyes and swung my legs over the side of my bed, staggering up I wondered over to my wardrobe and pulled on my training gear. I went to St. Vladimir's Academy where I trained as a Guardian. It wasn't that old but it was built like one of those old buildings in Europe with churchlike architecture. The opening gates where wrought iron enclosed small gardens and doorways. We live on the secondary campus decorated with stone paths and big trees. The Dhampir dormitories sat opposite the academic building with the Moroi dorms sitting on one of the other ends. The Dhampir lived in their dorms and the Moroi in the other that was how it worked. Except for me. I lived in the Moroi building for many reasons one of which being my little sister she was a Moroi, well she was my half- sister, we didn't know who my father was our mother had an affair with a Dhampir and I came out before my little sister did. My little sister was a beauty but a trouble maker two years my junior it was up to me to take care of her. I couldn't blame her, our parents death hit her hard. We were both there when they were killed by Strigoi hiding in a closet. That didn't stop them from finding us, Alli is forever scared by the images she saw that night. Mum and dad were killed and both Alli and I bitten by them. A lot of Guardians came and found Alli and I snuggled into our parents sides with three Strigoi dead around us. Ever since then Dimitri has been around the school and every time I see him I walk in the other direction. Alli was the same he reminded us of our past. I got up and pulled on shorts and a hoodie before heading out into the courtyard outside of our dormitories. Breathing in the fresh air I began by normal routine of going for a run around the Academy.

Rose's POV

I looked to see Dimitri give a young girl a look, she was a year or two below us with blonde curly hair and blue eyes with a pixie like face and a delicate body. She averted her eyes back to her group of Royal Moroi friends. As we passed through the door I saw another girl enter, she looked similar to the other girl but with a much lighter blonde hair and the same blue eyes she was more mature and obviously a Dhampir as we passed she kept her head down and refused to look at anyone of us. "Who was that?" I whispered to Lissa who leaned in close to me, "That's Eloise. The other girl was her little sister Alli. Remember Alli had that thing with Jesse and Eloise beat the stuffing out of him?" I nodded remembering the blonde hair beauty who was very quiet but what I remembered a good fighter. I turned my head to catch a last glance at her face and saw her blue eyes looking back at me before we disappeared around the corner.

Eloise POV

I watched as the infamous Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir disappear around the corner, I remembered Rose being rather rude to Alli but Lissa was alright. I stepped into the common room where everyone was obviously chatting about Rose's return. I was slowly walking over to Natalie's table when Eddie grabbed my hand and yanked me down to his table, "Why hello there Eloise, nice of you to drop in on us." He said sarcastically, I grinned my bestfriend. I leaned over and ruffled his hair, he slapped my hand away and did the same to my hair, "So went for your usual run this morning?" I rolled my eyes at him and went to stand up again when I slammed into Mason who grabbed my arm, "Wow steady on girl." He said, I looked up into his freckled face, him giving me a lopsided grin. Like Eddie, Mason had been my good friend for years and years. And I had been in love with him since year four when he stood up for me in the playground. He smiled down at me, "Did you guys hear Rose Hathaway's back?" I rolled my eyes, of course he always liked her. I smiled and shifted around him to go sit with Natalie. When the bell rang Eddie and Mason grabbed my arms and we walked to first period in the guardians gym. I was already dressed in my training gear and Mason and I were fighting over who would take today's session. He tackled me to the ground and I laughed saying he could take it as long as I got to fight him, he leaned in and whispered seductively in my ear, "I'm looking forward to it." I grinned and he helped me up. And then we all stopped and looked at the new comers. Dimitri, Alberta and Rose stepped into the gym and we all stopped and watched them. And then she spoke in her sweet little voice, "Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time." I looked to see Mason actually drooling. A few snorts broke the silence and Mason gave him a lopsided grin, the one he reserved for me. "This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session." Eddie through me a grin and I knocked Mason forward. "Oh yeah?" she retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then." I grimaced at her cockiness and Eddie noticed, "It's always a good a time to think about you naked," he said. Dimitri shook his head and stepped off to the side. The class rushed to her side and Rose laughed with her class mates as I stood off to the side. The happy reunion was short lived as a guardian came over and yelled at me for neglecting MY duties when it was Mason's training. I walked over to Mason to find him grabbing Rose's arm. "Come on, Hathaway, You can be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time." I stood there looking like an idiot, I had no partner and was about to leave when Dimitri motioned me over. I stood there waiting for him to do something. He swung at me and I reacted quickly and then we began fighting. He was holding back, I think and one swipe to his legs and a punch to the neckline he was down. He looked up at me surprised, "I forgot you killed those Strigoi." I looked at him, "You weren't holding back?" he shook his head. I quickly grabbed my stuff and went onto the track where I sat on the bleaches breathing heavily. An hour later, I walked back into the gym and fell in step behind Mason and Rose.  
"You actually did okay." He told her.  
"What? I just had my ass handed to me."  
"Well, of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That's something." He grinned mockingly.  
"Did I mention I hate you?"  
He flashed her another smile, which quickly faded to something more serious. "Don't take this the wrong way…I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there's no way you'll be able to take your trials in the spring - "  
"They're making me take extra practice sessions," she explained. "I'll be ready."  
"Extra sessions with who?"  
"That tall guy. Dimitri."  
Mason stopped walking and stared at her then me. "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"  
"Yeah, so what?" She asked looking at me also.  
"So the man is a god."  
"Exaggerate much?" she asked.  
"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial usually, but when he fights…wow. If you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you." I heard Dimitri snicker and give me a pointed look. Rose elbowed him and went on to second period.

The day went by slowly after that with Eddie and I wondering the school halls at lunch. It was then when one of Alli's friends came running up to me, "Alli and Mia are taunting Valissa, I just saw Rose coming." I broke out into a sprint and burst into the commons to find Rose grabbing Mia's shoulder and pushing her away and the full on pushing my sister back, Alli being Alli obviously said something and Rose was about to go at her again when I grabbed Rose's shoulder, "No, that's enough." Rose turned and went to swing at me but I stopped her, pushing her back a bit. Going over I helped Alli to her feet, "Apologize to Lissa and Rose." I said sternly at her, "But-" I cut her off pushing her towards them, "Now." She apologized and walked back to me and I pulled her out of the commons, "What were you thinking?" She hung her head, "It was Mia's idea." She muttered, "Oh well if it was Mia's idea! Lissa and Rose have been through a lot and you need to learn to respect people." She nodded and Eddie came waltzing up throwing an arm over Alli's shoulder, "She goin to hard on ya?" He asked her to which she smiled and nodded. Rolling my eyes I looked over my shoulder to see Dimitri watching us. We all turned to see him still watching, I pushed Eddie and Alli in the other direction and glared at Dimitri. When we were out of sight Eddie asked, "Anyone know what that was about?" We all shook our heads.

Rose's POV

Lissa's cousin, Natalie waved us over.I followed reluctantly. Natalie was nice but also one of the most uninteresting people I knew. Most royals at the school enjoyed a kind of celebrity status, but Natalie had never fit in with that crowd. She was too plain, too uninterested in the politics of the Academy, and too clueless to really navigate them anyway. Natalie's friends eyed us with a quiet curiosity, but she didn't hold back. She threw her arms around us. Like Lissa, she had jade-green eyes, but her hair was jet black, like Victor's had been before his disease greyed it. I looked around the table and my eyes landed on the only Dhampir at the table, Eloise, she was playing with the lettuce in front of her not looking up. "You're back! I knew you would be! Everyone said you were gone forever, but I never believed that. I knew you couldn't stay away. Why'd you go? There are so many stories about why you left!" Lissa and I exchanged glances as Natalie prattled on. "Camille said one of you got pregnant and went off to have an abortion, but I knew that couldn't be true. Someone else said you went off to hang out with Rose's mom, but I figured Ms. Kirova and Daddy wouldn't have been so upset if you'd turned up there. Did you know we might get to be roommates? I was talking to…"  
On and on she chatted, flashing her fangs as she spoke. I smiled politely, letting Lissa deal with the onslaught until Natalie asked a dangerous question. "What'd you do for blood, Lissa?"  
Even that question made Eloise look up. The table regarded us questioningly. Lissa froze, but I immediately jumped in, the lie coming effortlessly to my lips. "Oh, it's easy. There are a lot of humans who want to do it."  
"Really?" asked one of Natalie's friends, wide-eyed.  
"Yup. You find 'em at parties and stuff. They're all looking for a fix from something, and they don't really get that a vampire's doing it: most are already so wasted they don't remember anyway." My already vague details dried up, so I simply shrugged in as cool and confident a way as I could manage. It wasn't like any of them knew any better. "Like I said, it's easy. Almost easier than with our own feeders." Natalie accepted this and then launched into some other topic. Lissa shot me a grateful look. But when I looked at Eloise she had her head tilted to the side and was staring intently at me, like she knew I was lying. Ignoring her and the conversation again, I took in the old faces, trying to figure out who was hanging out with whom and how power had shifted within the school. Mason, sitting with a group of novices, caught my eye, and I smiled. Near him, a group of Moroi royals sat, laughing over something. Aaron and the blond girl sat there too. "Hey, Natalie," I said, turning around and cutting her off. She didn't seem to notice or mind. "Who's Aaron's new girlfriend?"  
"Huh? Oh. Mia Rinaldi." Seeing my blank look, she asked, "Don't you remember her?"  
"Should I? Was she here when we left?"  
"She's always been here," said Natalie. "She's only a year younger than us." I shot a questioning look at Lissa, who only shrugged. "Why is she so pissed off at us?" I asked. "Neither of us know her."  
"I don't know," answered Natalie. "Maybe she's jealous about Aaron. She wasn't much of anybody when you guys left. She got really popular really fast. She isn't royal or anything, but once she started dating Aaron, she - "  
"Okay, thanks," I interrupted. "It doesn't really - "  
My eyes lifted up from Natalie's face to Jesse Zeklos's, just as he passed by our table. Ah, Jesse. I'd forgotten about him. I liked flirting with Mason and some of the other novices, but Jesse was in an entirely different category. You flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Jesse in the hopes of getting semi-naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was so hot, he should have worn a warning: flammable sign. He met my eyes and grinned.  
"Hey Rose, welcome back. You still breaking hearts?"  
"Are you volunteering?"  
His grin widened. "Let's hang out sometime and find out. If you ever get parole. Oh hey Eloise."  
He kept walking, and I watched him admiringly. Natalie and her friends minus Eloise stared at me in awe. I might not be a god in the Dimitri sense, but with this group, Lissa and I were gods - or at least former gods - of another nature. "Oh my gawd," exclaimed one girl. I didn't remember her name. "That was Jesse."  
"Yes," I said, smiling. "It certainly was."  
"I wish I looked like you," she added with a sigh.  
Their eyes fell on me. Technically, I was half-Moroi, but my looks were human. I'd blended in well with humans during our time away, so much so that I'd barely thought about my appearance at all. Here, among the slim and small-chested Moroi girls, certain features - meaning my larger breasts and more defined hips - stood out. I knew I was pretty, but to Moroi boys, my body was more than just pretty: it was sexy in a risqué way. Dhampirs were an exotic conquest, a novelty all Moroi guys wanted to "try." I looked at Eloise and saw she wasn't as small as other dhampirs but quiet curvy.  
It was ironic that dhampirs had such an allure here, because slender Moroi girls looked very much like the super-skinny runway models so popular in the human world. Most humans could never reach that "ideal" skinniness, just as Moroi girls could never look like me. Everyone wanted what she couldn't have.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise's POV

It was after school and people where hanging around together before curfew ended. I was on my way to the gym when I saw Dimitri standing over Rose shaking her shoulders. I continued walking. I was halfway through my reps when Dimitri walked in, I saw Rose heading towards the change rooms, "No ones ever beaten me before. Escpecially not a Novice." I looked at him, "However you have killed before." I shook my head turning away from him, "You always do that. You and your sister walk in the other direction when I come anywhere close to you." I groaned and turned, "Yeah well you bring back to many memories, do me a favour and stay away from Alli." I said slinking past him to go outside. But he caught my arm, "when we found you and your sister we also found three dead Strigoi around you, Alli said you killed them and you said you didn't but yet you still have those marks. We found you all battered and bruised and both of you had bite marks in your necks. You should have died, but you didn't. Care to explain?" He said peering down at me, "Care to let go of my arm?" I shook him off and walked outside to the tracks. I was sitting on the bleaches when I slipped into Alli's head. "Hey Alli." Jesse's ugly voice said from across the room they were standing in. She giggled, "Are you ready?" I then saw him strolling forward towards her, he pressed her down on the couch and kissed her neck. I pulled out of her head quickly and began running, past Dimitri and Rose talking, pass Eddie and Mason who called out after me and towards her room. When I got there I found the door locked, kicking it in I threw Jesse off her. He turned around and punched me, I punched back and kicked his feet out from under him. I went to step over him to Alli when he pulled on my shoe and made me fall to the ground he crawled on top of me and quickly bit into my neck. "Get off her!" Alli shrieked, I felt the pure bliss that came from being bitten but moving past it I pushed Jesse off me and pushed him against the wall in her room, by now there was a crowd outside the door, punching him twice in the face I said in a calm voice, "If I ever see you looking at her talking to her, even if I see you in the general vicinity as her I will give you more then a black eye. And if you tell anyone what you did to me in here, I swear to god I will kill you. Do you understand?" He nodded and I pushed him away and out the door. Closing it behind him I turned on my little sister, "What the hell did you think you were doing?!" I yelled at her she began to cry, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I turned away from her, "What would mum and dad think? From now on you do not talk to Jesse or Mia. I want you staying away from them and hanging out with people in your own year. I know I can't make you but I will go to Alberta if I have to. Do you understand?" She sobbed and nodded, I opened her door, "I do this because I love you." I said closing it behind me. When I got outside I leant against it and sighed, "That was pretty badass." I heard Mason say from my right, "She truly is an idiot sometimes." I said to him, "Well good thing she has her big sister to look out for her." I smiled and leant into him when he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "What happened to your neck?" He asked when we began walking, "Nothing." I kept going but he grabbed my arm and trapped me against the wall, "Did Zeklos bite you?" He said moving my hair to the side. "It doesn't matter" he pushed me back against the wall, "You have to report this, we have feeders for a reason." I laughed and pushed him away, "And tell them what, he was in my little sisters room, that I beat him up? We would all get in trouble and Alli is already in enough trouble. Just drop it Mas." He caught up to me quickly and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

Rumours about that occurrence quickly spread, people weren't dumb enough to insult Alli so Jesse and I took the brunt of it. Some we're saying we had a secret relationship and I was jealous of Alli others said Alli and I were not actually sister but rather lesbian lovers and I was jealous of them again. And others had their heads screwed on straight and knew the actual story, unfortunately there wasn't many people who believed it. I was doing work in my bedroom when there was a knock on my door. I went to open it but it did that by itself revealing Dimitri, "Please come in." I said sarcasticly, "What's this I hear about you and Jesse Zeklos getting into a fight and him biting you?" I rolled my eyes and went back to my desk, "Who told you that?" I asked continuing my assignment, "Rose heard it from Mason who heard it from you." I am going to kill Mason and then Rose, "Well at least your source is credible." I went to leave but he grabbed my arm and pushed me back against the wall, "This is a serious offence, did he or did he not bite you?" He asked looking down at me, "He did not bite me." I said evenly, "I don't believe you but what I don't understand is why you didn't fight harder! You've kill Strigoi, you could have easily beaten him." I cracked and punched him across the face, "How do you know, how do you know I killed the? I don't remember killing them! Alli says she does but she was twelve and had just seen her mother and father died! All you guys saw was three dead Strigoi and assumed that it was the only alive Dhampir in the house! It could have been you guys, but YOU were too late!" He looked at me, "I'm sorry I didn't get there in time. I forgot my promise to your father that I would always protect you. I'm sorry I couldn't." I frowned, "You never met Lucas Kosev." He shook his head and walked to my door, "No, You're real father."

Rose's POV

"Not bad, huh?" I crowed when we headed back inside for cool-down stretches. "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."  
"If she was with you, she'd be okay."  
I looked up in surprise. It was the first real compliment he'd paid me since I started training with him. His brown eyes watched me, both approving and amused.  
And that's when it happened.  
I felt like someone had shot me. Sharp and biting, terror exploded in my body and in my head. Small razors of pain. My vision blurred, and for a moment, I wasn't standing there. I was running down a flight of stairs, scared and desperate, needing to get out of there, needing to find…me.  
My vision cleared, leaving me back on the track and out of Lissa's head. Without a word to Dimitri, I tore off, running as fast as I could toward the Moroi dorm. It didn't matter that I'd just put my legs through a mini-marathon. They ran hard and fast, like they were shiny and new. Distantly, I was aware of Dimitri catching up to me, asking me what was wrong. But I couldn't answer him. I had one task and one alone: get to the dorm.  
Its looming, ivy-covered form was just coming into view when Lissa met up with us, her face streaked with tears. I came to a jarring stop, my lungs ready to burst.  
"What's wrong? What happened?" I demanded, clutching her arms, forcing her to look into my eyes.  
But she couldn't answer. She just flung her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. I held her there, stroking her sleek, silky hair while I told her it was going to be all right - whatever 'it' was. And honestly, I didn't care what it was just then. She was here, and she was safe, which was all that mattered. Dimitri hovered over us, alert and ready for any threat, his body coiled to attack. I felt safe with him beside us.

A half hour later, we were crammed inside Lissa's dorm room with three other guardians, Ms. Kirova, and the hall matron. This was the first time I'd seen Lissa's room. Natalie had indeed managed to get her as a roommate, and the two sides of the room were a study in contrasts. Natalie's looked lived in, with pictures on the wall and a frilly bedspread that wasn't dorm-issue. Lissa had as few possessions as I did, making her half noticeably bare. She did have one picture taped to the wall, a picture taken from last Halloween, when we'd dressed up like fairies, complete with wings and glittery makeup. Seeing that picture and remembering how things used to be made a dull pain form in my chest.

With all the excitement, no one seemed to remember that I wasn't supposed to be in there. Outside in the hall, other Moroi girls crowded together, trying to figure out what was going on. Natalie pushed her way through them, wondering what the commotion in her room was. When she discovered it, she came to a screeching halt.  
Shock and disgust showed on almost everyone's faces as we stared at Lissa's bed. There was a fox on the pillow. Its coat was reddish-orange, tinged in white. It looked so soft and cuddly that it could have been a pet, perhaps a cat, something you'd hold in your arms and snuggle with.

Aside from the fact that its throat had been slit.

The inside of the throat looked pink and jellylike. Blood stained that soft coat and had run down onto the yellow bedspread, forming a dark pool that spread across the fabric. The fox's eyes stared upward, glazed, over with a sort of shocked look about them, like the fox couldn't believe this was happening.

Nausea built up in my stomach, but I forced myself to keep looking. I couldn't afford to be squeamish. I'd be killing Strigoi someday. If I couldn't handle a fox, I'd never survive major kills.

What had happened to the fox was sick and twisted, obviously done by someone too fucked up for words. Lissa stared at it, her face death-pale, and took a few steps toward it, hand involuntarily reaching out. This gross act hit her hard, I knew, digging at her love of animals. She loved them, they loved her. While on our own, she'd often begged me for a pet, but I'd always refused and reminded her we couldn't take care of one when we might have to flee at a moment's notice. Plus, they hated me. So she'd contented herself with helping and patching up strays she found and making friends with other people's pets, like Oscar the cat.

She couldn't patch this fox up, though. There was no coming back for it, but I saw in her face she wanted to help it, like she helped everything. I tightened my grip on her arm, digging my nails in to get her attention. She flinched. "No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?" I could feel both Natalie and Dimitri's eyes on us. "It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."  
Not looking like she believed me at all, Lissa nodded.  
"Get this cleaned up," Kirova snapped to the matron. "And find out if anyone saw anything." Everyone turned when they heard someone yell out, "Alli!" Alli Kosev ran into her sisters arms clinging to her, "It's alright, shh, I know what happened." They obviously weren't talking about this situation, she looked up and me my eyes. "What's going on here?" She passed her sister off to one of the girls and came to stand next me and Lissa, "Jesus Christ." She murmured, "Not again." Everyone turned back to the fox being cleaned up but I continued looking at Eloise who was looking at Natalie, with calculating eyes. It was unnerving, like she thought something bad was going to happen to her. Dimitri escorted me back to the Novices dorm and I saw Alli clinging to her sister as the matron stood hovering by them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise POV

In the gym that day I took my anger out on Mason, I was still angry at him and he took it because he knew I was pissed. Rose was the same and everyone applauded her on making her comeback. Mason and I made up and he gave me a massive hug. I was walking next to Eddie when he asked me how Alli was, "She's alright this morning shook her up a bit." He knew as well as I that we weren't talking about the fox. His arm wrapped around my shoulder and I stopped walking, "If you see her talking with him can you pull her away, watch out for her. Please?" He nodded and gave me a massive hug. We parted ways at the common so I went to sit with Natalie, Lissa and Rose. Natalie was going on and on about the fox eventually making men shush her, Lissa and Rose left. "Stop it Nat. You're making a spectacle of yourself." I swung my book bag over my shoulder and went to leave the commons when I saw Jesse closing in on my sister, "You want me to give you another black eye?" I said stepping in his path. Everyone stopped and looked at the two of us, he glared back and stepped closer leaning in and whispering to me, "You wouldn't. Not with all these people around." I pushed him back, "Wanna bet." He smirked and turned around.

Outside animal behaviour class, I saw Jesse and Rose talking rolling my eyes I stepped in and took my seat at the back side of the classroom. I didn't really pay attention but took a few notes here and there before we split into groups and I sat with Christian. We watched as Ralph tormented Lissa and Rose, "Hey Christian." He turned and looked at me, "Fire." I said winking. He grinned and Ralph burst into flames. Rose jumped and pushed Lissa out of the way causing both of them to fall to the ground, screams filled the room along with our laughter. When Ralph was no longer alight everyone slowly put the pieces together. I almost fell out my seat from laughing so hard, "Mr. Ozera and Miss. Kosev. How dare you - do you have any idea - report to Headmistress Kirova's office now!"  
Both of us stood with grins on our faces, "Sure thing Ms. Meissner." We high five and walked out of the room. We laughed the whole way to principal's office who had already been told of the occurrence. "Setting someone on fire, this is inexcusable!" I stepped forward, "Ms Kirova, I take full responsibility for this situation." She looked at me and smirked, "Ms Kosev are you telling me that you are now a Moroi and a fire user" I looked at Christian raised an eyebrow. "I told Christian to do it. I initiated it." She looked at me and rolled her eyes. "Community service for both of you, and seeing as you are taking the blame Ms Kosev you can help Guardian Belikov train Rose for three days. You may leave." We got outside and began laughing again.

Rose's POV

I had a feeling hostility would only make things worse, so I defused the situation with teasing. "Stop it," I said gently, running a fingertip over his lips. "I told you, I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas."  
That peaked his interest. "Yeah? Like wha - ?"  
And that was when the door opened.  
We sprang apart. I was ready to handle a fellow student or even possibly the matron. What I was not ready for was Dimitri.  
He burst in the door like he'd expected to find us, and in that horrible moment, with him raging like a storm, I knew why Mason had called him a god. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and jerked Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding the Moroi off the ground.  
"What's your name?" barked Dimitri.  
"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir."  
"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?"  
"No, sir."  
"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again" - Dimitri pointed to where I cowered, half-dressed, on the couch - "I will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?"  
Jesse swallowed, eyes wide. None of the bravado he usually showed was there. I guess there was "usually" and then there was being held in the grip of a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy "Yes, sir!"  
"Then go." Dimitri released him, and, if possible, Jesse got out of there faster than Dimitri had burst in. My mentor then turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but the angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear. And then it shifted. It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he'd never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was checking me out. As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face, my body. And I suddenly realized I was only in jeans and a bra - a black bra at that. I knew perfectly well that there weren't a lot of girls at this school who looked as good in a bra as I did. Even a guy like Dimitri, one who seemed so focused on duty and training and all of that, had to appreciate that. And, finally, I noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than Jesse's kisses had. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes, but he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into…well, sex. I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and - shit! What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with attitude.  
"You see something you like?" I asked.

"Get dressed."  
The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. That fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I immediately pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side. "How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?"  
"Be quiet," he snapped, leaning down so that we were at eye level. "A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?"  
"I know, I know, the whole probation thing, right?"  
"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in that kind of situation in the first place."  
"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child.  
"Stop calling me that. You don't know even know what you're talking about."  
"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year."  
"U.S.S.R. And it is a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag."  
"So?"  
"So?" he looked disgusted. "So don't you have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me."  
"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?"  
"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen." His voice hardened again. "Now get back to your room - if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else."  
"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?"  
"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you."  
Ouch. I wanted to yell back that it was none of his business what I did with my body, but something about the anger and disappointment on his face made me falter. I didn't know what it was. "Disappointing" someone like Kirova was a non-event, but Dimitri?…I remembered how proud I'd felt when he praised me the last few times in our practices. Seeing that disappear from him…well, it suddenly made me feel as cheap as he'd implied I was. Something broke inside of me. Blinking back tears, I said, "Why is it wrong to…I don't know, have fun? I'm seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it."

"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands." His voice still sounded firm, but there was a gentleness there too. "If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do things other girls could."  
"But you're saying I can't."  
He glanced away, and his dark eyes went unfocused. He was thinking about something far away from here. "When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction…" He sighed. "And it's too late." A lump formed in my throat as I thought about one slip or one distraction costing Lissa her life.  
"Jesse's a Zeklos," I said, suddenly realizing Dimitri had just thrown around a relative of his former friend and charge.  
"I know."  
"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?"  
"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel."  
"But it does bother you." It suddenly became very obvious to me. I could read his pain, though he clearly worked hard to hide it. "You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him." Dimitri looked surprised, like he didn't want me to know that, like I'd uncovered some secret part of him. I'd been thinking he was some aloof, antisocial tough guy, but maybe he kept himself apart from other people so he wouldn't get hurt if he lost them. Ivan's death had clearly left a permanent mark. I wondered if Dimitri was lonely. The surprised look vanished, and his standard serious one returned. "It doesn't matter how I feel. They come first. Protecting them." I thought about Lissa again. "Yeah. They do."  
A long silence fell before he spoke again.  
"You told me you want to fight, to really fight. Is that still true?"  
"Yes. Absolutely."  
"Rose…I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this." He gestured around the lounge. "Can I trust you?"  
Again, I felt like crying under that gaze, under the seriousness of what he asked. I didn't get how he could have such a powerful effect on me. I'd never cared so much about what one person thought. "Yes. I promise."  
"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate the running, but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi are like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast…well, you can't even imagine. So I can't stop the running and the conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more trainings. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot." I thought about it, about him, and about Lissa. "It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it."

He studied me hard, like he was still trying to decide if he could believe me. Finally satisfied, he gave me a sharp nod. "We'll start tomorrow." We began to walk out when we heard a yell, "Zeklos!" Eloise's voice yelled from up ahead, "I HAVE WARNED YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! You do not touch Alli EVER!" we rounded the corner and I saw her pinning Jesse to the wall. "Eloise!" I yelled out to her, "I have had enough of you, I swear to god I will kill you! I am going to rip you to pieces." Dimitri charged towards them and yanked her off him by the waist, "NO! You don't know what he's done!" He spun her around and placed her back to his chest, "Stop it Eloise. You'll be expelled!" She managed to rip free of his grasp and almost grab Jesse by his shirt again. Dimitri picked her up and threw her over his shoulder making her skid across the concrete. "Rose go back to your dorm and stay there. Zeklos you go to yours." Jesse disappeared quickly but I stayed around to see him kneel down next to her, he said something which made her sob and lean into his shoulder.

Eloise's POV

I had just come from Alli's room when I saw Jesse Zeklos walking from the Novices dorm. "Zeklos!" I yelled walking towards him pinning him to the wall, "I HAVE WARNED YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! You do not touch Alli EVER!" Rose's voice yelled at me, "I have had enough of you, I swear to god I will kill you! I am going to rip you to pieces." I felt someone's arms wrap around my waist and spin me around, "NO! You don't know what he's done!" he placed my back against his chest, "Stop it Eloise. You'll be expelled!" he growled at me. I ripped out of his grasp to grab Jesse but he lifter me up and threw me over his shoulder causing me to skid across the concrete grazing my hands and hurting my ankles. "Rose go back to your dorm and stay there. Zeklos you go to yours." He knelt down next to me and whispered, "What would your parents think?" I broke and sobbed into his shoulder. His arm came around me as I cried into his shoulder. "What did he do? What did he do to Alli?" I looked at him, "Nothing, he did nothing." Dimitri looked at me, "If you don't tell me I will go to Ms Kirova and charge you with assault and him with other things. Now I'll ask you again, what did he do to Alli?" I looked up at him, "You can't tell anyone. Not only will he get in trouble but Alli would be expelled." He nodded at me, "I promise I won't tell." I gulped and looked down, "Alli invited him into her room, because he said he would tutor her in Animal Behaviour, half an hour into this he began to kiss her and touch her. Then she told him to get out and he said he would screw her one day." His face hardened, "When was this?" I looked into his eyes. "About half an hour ago." He growled, "That-wait a second you had a class half an hour ago how did you know?" I froze, "It doesn't matter. I need to go." I tried going but Dimitri stopped me looking down at my hands they were grazed looking like they had gone through a grater. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to throw you that hard." I shrugged. I got up and winced when I placed a bit of weight on my ankle, "What's wrong?" I shook my head and waved him off. I began to walk/ limp away when an arm wrapped around my waist and began to help me walk towards the gym. "Belikov, you don't have to do this." He rolled his eyes. When we reached the gym he lifted me onto a counter, "You'll probably have to stay off this for the rest of today. It should be okay tomorrow, it was just a small twist, nothing serious." He delicately lifted and wrapped my ankle and grabbed some antiseptic and bandages. He wiped the blood off and then wrapped them in bandages as well. "Good thing to seeing as I'm helping you in training tomorrow." He looked up from his work, "Yeah I heard about that, did you actually tell someone to set a student on fire." I smiled and nodded. Mason suddenly burst into the gym and ran straight to my side, "I heard what happened to Alli. Are you alright? Do you want me to bash Zeklos up? Oh hey Guardian Belikov." I laughed and Dimitri helped me off the counter. Mason wrapped an arm around my waist, "I see you're in good hands, Mr Ashford. Eloise I'll see you tomorrow." I nodded and with the help of Mason got safely to my room and into bed, "Hey Mas?" he turned, "Do you ever think of us-" He cocked an eyebrow at me, "Us?" I shook my head, "Nothing. Don't worry I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled and kissed my forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow, beautiful." I blushed and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Rose's POV

We had an assembly tonight. It was November 1, All Saints' Day. A royal group was visiting the school, including Queen Tatiana herself. Honestly, that wasn't what excited me. She'd visited the Academy before. It was pretty common and a lot less cool than it sounded. Besides, after living among humans and elected leaders, I didn't think much of stiff royals. Still, I'd gotten permission to go because everyone else would be there. It was a chance to hang out with actual people for a change and not stay locked in my dorm room. A little freedom was definitely worth the pain of sitting through a few boring speeches.

I didn't stay to chat with Lissa after school like I usually did. Dimitri had stuck to his promise about extra trainings, and I was trying to stick to mine. I now had two additional hours of practice with him and Eloise, one before and one after school. The more I watched him in action, the more I understood the badass-god reputation. He clearly knew a lot - his six molnija marks proved as much - and I burned to have him teach me what he knew. And Eloise knew a lot as well, I didn't understand why she hadn't left the school already, probably because of Alli. I had spied three molnija marks on the back of her neck.

When I arrived at the gym, I noticed he was wearing a T-shirt and loose running pants, as opposed to his usual jeans. It was a good look for him. Really good. Stop looking, I immediately told myself. Eloise cocked an eyebrow and smiled at me.

He positioned me so that we stood facing each other on the mat and crossed his arms. "What's the first problem you'll run into when facing a Strigoi?"

"They're immortal?"

"Think of something more basic."

More basic than that? I considered. "They could be bigger than me. And stronger."

Most Strigoi - unless they'd been human first - had the same height as their Moroi cousins. Strigoi also had better strength, reflexes, and senses than dhampirs. That's why guardians trained so hard; we had a "learning curve" to compensate for.

Dimitri nodded. "That makes it difficult but not impossible. You can usually use a person's extra height and weight against them. Take El for example." She glared at him, "she can easily take people way bigger than her down."  
They and demonstrated several manoeuvres, pointing out where to move and how to strike someone. Going through the motions with him, I gained some insight into why I took such a regular beating in group practice. I absorbed their techniques quickly and couldn't wait to actually use them. Near the end of our time together, they let me try.  
"Go ahead," he said. "Try to hit her."  
I didn't need to be told twice. Lunging forward, I tried to land a blow and was promptly blocked and knocked down onto the mat. Pain surged through my body, but I refused to give in to it. I jumped up again, hoping to catch her off guard. I didn't.  
After several more failed attempts, I stood up and held out my hands in a gesture of truce. "Okay, what am I doing wrong?"  
"Nothing."  
I wasn't as convinced. "If I wasn't doing anything wrong, I'd have rendered you unconscious by now."  
"Unlikely. Your moves are all correct, but this is the first time you've really tried. I've done it for years and Eloise has been doing this since she was born."  
I shook my head and rolled my eyes at his older-and-wiser manner. He'd once told me he was twenty-four. "Whatever you say, Grandpa. Can we try it again?"  
"We're out of time. Don't you want to get ready?"  
I looked at the dusty clock on the wall and perked up. Almost time for the banquet. The thought made me giddy I felt like Cinderella, but without the clothes.  
"Hell, yeah, I do."  
He walked off ahead of me. Studying him carefully, I realized I couldn't let the opportunity go by. I leapt at his back, positioning myself exactly the way he'd taught me. I had the element of surprise. Everything was perfect, and he wouldn't even see me coming.  
Before I could make contact, he spun around at a ridiculously high speed. In one deft motion, he grabbed me like I weighed nothing and threw me to the ground, pinning me there.  
I groaned. "I didn't do anything wrong!"  
His eyes looked levelly into mine as he held my wrists, but he didn't look as serious as he had during the lesson. Eloise was laughing in the background. "The battle cry sort of gave you away. Try not to yell next time." She said laughing  
"Would it have really made a difference if I'd been quiet?"  
He thought about it. "No. Probably not."  
I sighed loudly, still in too much of a good mood to really let this disappointment get me down. There were some advantages to having such a kick-ass mentor - one who also happened to have a foot of height on me and outweighed me considerably. And that wasn't even considering his strength. He wasn't bulky but his body had a lot of hard, lean muscle. If I could ever beat him, I could beat anyone.  
All of a sudden, it occurred to me that he was still holding me down. The skin on his fingers was warm as he clutched my wrists. His face hovered inches from my own, and his legs and torso were actually pressing against mine. Some of his long brown hair hung around his face, and he appeared to be noticing me too, almost like he had that night in the lounge. And oh God, did he smell good. Breathing became difficult for me, and it had nothing to do with the workout or my lungs being crushed.  
I would have given anything to be able to read his mind right then. Ever since that night in the lounge, I'd noticed him watching me with this same, studious expression. He never actually did it during the trainings themselves - those were business. But before and after, he would sometimes lighten up just a little, and I'd see him look at me in a way that was almost admiring. And sometimes, if I was really, really lucky, he'd smile at me. A real smile, too - not the dry one that accompanied the sarcasm we tossed around so often. I didn't want to admit it to anyone - not to Lissa, not even to myself - but some days, I lived for those smiles. They lit up his face. "Gorgeous" no longer adequately described him.  
Hoping to appear calm, I tried to think of something professional and guardian-related to say. Instead, I said, "So um...you got any other moves to show me?"  
His lips twitched, and for a moment, I thought I was going to get one of those smiles. My heart leapt. Then, with visible effort, he pushed the smile back and once more became my tough-love mentor. He shifted off me, leaned back on his heels, and rose. "Come on. We should go."  
I scrambled to my own feet and followed him out of the gym. He didn't look back as he walked, and I mentally kicked myself on the way back to my room.

Eloise POV

I quickly rushed to my dorm to get ready for this afternoon, throwing on skinny jeans, beige boots, and a sweater. I headed off campus to the reception, they had transferred the normal ugly commons into a passable with vases with flowers filling out of them. The tables had been arranged in straight lines, creating an aisle down the middle of the room. We had assigned seating, and naturally, Alli was sitting at the front whilst I was told to stand with the other Guardians around the sides of the room. Alli looked beautiful in a like pink dress with her hair done in curls.  
They always conducted these formal banquets in the same way. A head table sat on a dais at the front of the room, where we could all ooh and ahh and watch Queen Tatiana and other royals eat dinner. Guardians lined the walls, as stiff and formal as statues. All our eyes looked straight ahead and we stood as still as statues.  
When the time came for the royals' entrance, everyone stood up respectfully and watched as they walked down the aisle. Finally four solemn guardians with red-and-black-pin-striped jackets entered the commons. Everyone but the guardians along the walls sank to our knees in a silly show of loyalty.  
Queen Tatiana followed her guards, wearing a red silk dress and matching jacket. She was in her early sixties and had dark grey hair bobbed to her chin and crowned with a Miss America-type tiara. She moved into the room slowly, like she was taking a stroll, four more guardians at her back.  
She moved through the novices' section fairly quickly, though she did nod and smile here and there. Dhampirs might just be the half-human, illegitimate children of the Moroi, but we trained and dedicated our lives to serving and protecting them. The likelihood was strong that many of us gathered here would die young, and the queen had to show her respect for that.  
When she got to the Moroi section, she paused longer and actually spoke to a few students. It was a big deal to be acknowledged, mostly a sign that someone's parents had gotten in good with her. Naturally, the royals got the most attention. She didn't really say much to them that was all that interesting, mostly just a lot of fancy words. "Allison Kosev. How lovely to see you again. And where might your sister be?" Alli smiled and pointed to where I stood the Queen nodded her head graciously at me and I did the same back bowing slightly at the waist. The Queen next stopped at Lissa and publicly humiliated her, "You are the same as Allison Kosev, throwing everything away!" I almost stepped forward when I saw Alli choke back her tears, but Alberta's hand grabbed me. When the Queen left I tried going to Alli but they had ushered the Moroi out quickly, I grimaced and headed outside where I saw a crowd forming, "You're standing to close." I heard Rose snarl at Alli and Mia. "And hey at least the queen knew her name, which is more than I can say for you and your wannabe-royal act. Or your parents. And the Queen only knew your name because of your sister and the fact that you whore around." I stepped forward and in between Rose and Mia. "At least I see my parents," she retorted. "At least I know who they both are. God only knows who your father is. And your mom's one of the most famous guardians around, but she couldn't care less about you either. Everyone knows she never visits. Probably was glad when you were gone. If she even noticed." I spun and gave them a meaningful look, "Enough all of you enough" "Yeah, well, at least she's famous. She really does advise royals and nobles. She doesn't clean up after them." I heard one of her friends snicker behind her. Mia opened her mouth, no doubt to unleash one of the many retorts she'd had to accumulate since the story started going around, when the lightbulb suddenly went off in her head.  
"It was you," she said, eyes wide. "Someone told me Jesse'd started it, but he couldn't have known anything about me. He got it from you. When you slept with him." "I didn't sleep with him."  
Mia pointed at Lissa and glared back at Rose. "So that's it, huh? You do her dirty work because she's too pathetic to do it herself. You aren't always going to be able to protect her," she warned. "You aren't safe either." Empty threats. Rose tried to lean around me and making her voice as menacing as possible. "Yeah? Try and touch me now and find out." I pushed Rose back, "Enough all of you!" I snarled, I froze up and felt a Guardian's presence. Dimitri came and broke up the almost fight. I went to the Moroi dorms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

My night sleep was interrupted by Rose's voice silently talking in the corridor, I grabbed my ugg boots and walked out of my room, "Hey what's going on? Is it Liss?" They nodded and Rose and I walked into the bathroom. "Are you okay?" Rose whispered. "What happened?"  
She only shook her head, but I saw her face crumple as more tears spilled from her eyes. I took her hands. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned - "  
We stopped. She was bleeding after all. Perfect lines crossed her wrists, not near any crucial veins, but enough to leave wet, red tracks across her skin. She hadn't hit her veins when she did this; death hadn't been her goal. She met our eyes.  
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean...Please don't let them know..." she sobbed. "When I saw it, I freaked out." She nodded toward her wrists. "This just happened before I could stop. I was upset..."  
"It's okay," Rose said automatically, wondering what "it" was. "Come on."  
I heard a knock on the door. "Rose?"  
"Just a sec," she called back.  
I took her to the sink and rinsed the blood off her wrists. Grabbing the first-aid kit, I hastily put some Band-Aids on the cuts. The bleeding had already slowed.  
"We're coming in," the matron called.  
I jerked off my sweatshirt and quickly handed it to Lissa. She had just pulled it on when Dimitri and the matron entered. He raced to our sides in an instant, and I realized that in hiding Lissa's wrists, we'd forgotten the blood on her face.  
"It's not mine," she said quickly, seeing his expression. "It...it's the rabbit..."  
Dimitri assessed her, and I hoped he wouldn't look at her wrists. When he seemed satisfied she had no gaping wounds, he asked, "What rabbit?" We were all wondering the same thing.  
With shaking hands, she pointed at the trash can. "I cleaned it up. So Natalie wouldn't see." I narrowed my eyes at Natalie's sleeping form who seemed to be smiling slightly in her sleep.  
Dimitri and Rose both walked over and peered into the can. Rose pulled back quickly.  
Dimitri shifted closer to Lissa, bending down until they were at eye level. "Tell me what happened." He handed her several tissues.

"I came back about an hour ago. And it was there. Right there in the middle of the floor. Torn apart. It was like it had...exploded." She sniffed. "I didn't want Natalie to find it, didn't want to scare her...so I-I cleaned it up. Then I just couldn't...I couldn't go back..." She began to cry, and her shoulders shook. We could figure out the rest, the part she didn't tell Dimitri. She'd found the rabbit, cleaned up, and freaked out. Then she'd cut herself, but it was the weird way she coped with things that upset her.  
"No one should be able to get into those rooms!" exclaimed the matron. "How is this happening?" I flared my nostrils. Rose noticed my hard expression.  
"Do you know who did it?" Dimitri's voice was gentle. Lissa reached into her pajamas pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It had so much blood soaked into it, I could barely read it as he held it and smoothed it out.

'I know what you are. You won't survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave now. It's the only way you might live through this.' I glared at the handwriting, my eyes flicking around the room again.  
The matron's shock transformed into something more determined, and she headed for the door. "I'm getting Ellen." I pocketed the note. "Tell her we'll be at the clinic," said Dimitri. When she left, he turned to Lissa. "You should lie down."  
When she didn't move, Rose linked her arm through Lissa. "Come on, Liss. Let's get you out of here." Dimitri looked at me, "I'll clean the rest up." He nodded and I began cleaning the blood before sneaking to Natalie's side of the room and grabbing one of her note books before leaving. The Matron was right no one could access the rooms I knew this as well as everyone else. Someone either had a spare key or were really sneaky or it was an inside job. I didn't want to believe it was someone on our floor. I had some thinking to do.

Rose thanked me the next day for helping out and also asked me if I knew where the note was to which I shook my head, "Rose, I'll tell Alli and Mia to lay off you and Lissa, I don't know if they'll listen but I'll try. Please don't try to hit my little sister, cause then I might just have to beat you up." She smiled and carried on. Rumours were being spread of how Ralph and Jesse had slept and bitten Rose, also how Lissa bit Rose while they were away. I told Alli to back off and she said she would. I had stolen at least one notebook from everyone's dorm rooms on our floor to see the handwriting but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I bumped into Eddie and Mason on the way back to my dorm, "Hey strangers." I said to them, "I'm sorry do we know you?" Eddie said smiling rolling my eyes I walked with them. We were walking past Ralf, Jesse and a few other royals when I heard them laughing about Rose. "That's it." I stormed up to Jesse and punched him square in the face he fell and I picked him up by his collar, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" He smirked down at me, "Don't worry love, she didn't taste as good as you." I punched him in the face again and he went down, I turned to walk away, "I bet you, Ashford and Castile have all done what we did to Rose, minus the biting part. Do you like having to boys?" I turned and this time I wasn't alone in punching all the boys, Eddie and Mas got into it as well. "Learn that we are trained to kill, she has already killed. We can easily kill or seriously harm you, spread one more rumour and I will end you." Mason growled in Ralf's face as I kneed Jesse in the groin.

"Well that was fun." We said walking away, Lissa came up to us. "Thank you for doing that." We smiled and winked at her, "Happy to help." Eddie went off to tutoring and Mason and I wondered around the campus, "What were you going to say that night you got hurt? When I dropped you off at your room?" I sucked in a breath, "Oh, um, I was going to ask if you had ever thought what would happen with our friendship after school? Wouldn't it be cool if we all got a posting close to each other?" he looked at me knowing I was lying but dropped it. We were walking through the Novices dorm when we heard a commotion in the kitchen.

Rose's POV

While heading out to practice later, I stopped in the dorm's kitchen to grab a granola bar. As I did, I passed a couple of novice guys, Miles and Anthony. Miles whistled when he saw me.  
"How's it been going, Rose? You getting lonely? Want some company?"  
Anthony laughed. "I can't bite you, but I can give you something else you want."  
I had to pass through the doorway they stood in to get outside. Glaring, I pushed past, but Miles caught me around the waist, his hand sliding down to my butt.  
"Get your hands off my ass before I break your face," I told him, jerking away. In doing so, I only bumped into Anthony.  
"Come on," Anthony said, "I thought you didn't have a problem taking on two guys at the same time." A new voice spoke up. "If you guys don't walk away right now, I'll take both of you on." Mason. My hero.  
"You're so full of it, Ashford," said Miles. He was the bigger of the two and left me to go square off with Mason. Anthony backed off from me, more interested in whether or not there'd be a fight. There was so much testosterone in the air, I felt like I needed a gas mask.  
"Are you doing her too?" Miles asked Mason. "You don't want to share?"  
"Say one more word about her, and I'll rip your head off."  
"Why? She's just a cheap blood - "  
Mason punched him. It didn't rip Miles' head off or even cause anything to break or bleed, but it looked like it hurt. His eyes widened, and he lunged toward Mason. A hand flashed out and grabbed Miles' shoulder yanking him back, "I don't think so pretty boy." Eloise called voice said. The sound of doors opening in the hall caused everyone to freeze. Novices got in a lot of trouble for fighting.  
"Probably some guardians coming." Mason grinned. "You want them to know you were beating up on a girl?" Miles and Anthony exchanged glances. "Come on," Anthony said. "Let's go. We don't have time for this." Miles reluctantly followed. "I'll find you later, Ashford." "And I'll be waiting to beat you up afterwards, pretty boy."  
When they were gone, I turned on Mason. " 'Beat up on a girl'?"  
"You're welcome," he said drily.  
"I didn't need your help."  
"Sure. You were doing just fine on your own."  
"They caught me off guard, that's all. I could have dealt with them eventually."  
"Look, don't take being pissed off at them out on me."  
"I just don't like being treated like...a girl."  
"You are a girl. And I was just trying to help."  
I looked at him and saw the earnestness on his face. He meant well. No point in being a bitch to him when I had so many other people to hate lately.  
"Well...thanks. Sorry I snapped at you."  
We talked a little bit, and I managed to get him to spill some more school gossip. He had noticed Lissa's rise in status but didn't seem to find it strange. As I talked to him, I noticed the adoring look he always got around me spread across his face. It made me sad to have him feel that way about me. Guilty, even. Eloise watched him in narrowed eyes, "I'm going to go now."

Someone rapped at my door, and I jerked out of my memories. No one had visited me, not even staff, since my suspension. When I opened the door, I saw Mason in the hall.  
"Twice in one day?" I asked. "And how'd you even get up here?"  
He flashed his easy smile. "Someone put a lit match in one of the bathroom's garbage cans. Damn shame. The staff's kind of busy. Come on, I'm springing you."  
I shook my head. Setting fires was apparently a new sign of affection. Christian had done it and now Mason. "Sorry, no saving me tonight. If I get caught - "  
"Lissa's orders." I shut up and let him smuggle me out of the building. He took me over to the Moroi dorm and miraculously got me in and up to her room unseen. I wondered if there was a distracting bathroom fire in this building too. Inside her room, I found a party in full swing. Lissa, Camille, Carly, Aaron, Eloise, and a few other royals sat around laughing, listening to loud music, and passing around bottles of whiskey. No Mia, no Jesse. Natalie, I noticed a few moments later, sat apart from the group, clearly unsure how to act around all of them. Her awkwardness was totally obvious.  
Lissa stumbled to her feet, the fuzzy feelings in our bond indicating she'd been drinking for a while. "Rose!" She turned to Mason with a dazzling smile. "You delivered."  
He swept her an over-the-top bow. "I'm at your command."  
I hoped he'd done it for the thrill of it and not because of any compulsion. Lissa slung an arm around my waist and pulled me down with the others. "Join the festivities."  
"What are we celebrating?"  
"I don't know. Your escape tonight?"  
A few of the others held up plastic cups, cheering and toasting me. Xander Badica poured two more cups, handing them to Mason and me. I took mine with a smile, all the while feeling uneasy about the night's turn of events. Not so long ago, I would have welcomed a party like this and would have downed my drink in thirty seconds. Too much bothered me this time, though. Like the fact that the royals were treating Lissa like a goddess. Like how none of them seemed to remember that I had been accused of being a blood whore.  
Like how Lissa was completely unhappy despite her smiles and laughter.  
"Where'd you get the whiskey?" I asked.  
"Mr. Nagy," Aaron said. He sat very close to Lissa.  
Everyone knew Mr. Nagy drank all the time after school and kept a stash on campus. He continually used new hiding places - and students continually found them.  
Lissa leaned against Aaron's shoulder. "Aaron helped me break into his room and take them. He had them hidden in the bottom of the paint closet."  
The others laughed, and Aaron gazed at her with complete and utter worship. Amusingly, I realized she hadn't had to use any compulsion on him. He was just that crazy for her. He always had been.  
"Why aren't you drinking?" Mason asked me a little while later, speaking quietly into my ear.  
I glanced down at my cup, half surprised to see it full. "I don't know. I guess I don't think guardians should drink around their charges."  
"She's not your charge yet! You aren't on duty. You won't be for a long time. Since when did you get so responsible?"  
I didn't really think I was all that responsible. But I was thinking about what Dimitri had said about balancing fun and obligation. It just seemed wrong to let myself go wild when Lissa was in such a vulnerable state lately. Wiggling out of my tight spot between her and Mason, I walked over and sat beside Natalie.  
"Hey Nat, you're quiet tonight."  
She held a cup as full as mine. "So are you."  
I laughed softly. "I guess so."  
She tilted her head, watching Mason and the royals like they were some sort of science experiment. They'd consumed a lot more whiskey since I'd arrived, and the silliness had shot up considerably. "Weird, huh? You used to be the center of attention. Now she is."  
I blinked in surprise. I hadn't considered it like that. "I guess so."  
"Oi Eloise, don't you have to watch over your sister?" I looked at Eloise who was lying on the ground with her arms behind her head and a half a drunk cup next to her. "Nah mate, I'm off duty. Al is of somewhere doing something with a teacher for school." She laughed and Mason threw an arm around her. "Hey, Rose," said Xander, nearly spilling his drink as he walked over to me. "What was it like?"  
"What was what like?"  
"Letting someone feed off you?"  
The others fell quiet, a sort of anticipation settling over them.  
"She didn't do that," said Lissa in a warning voice. "I told you."  
"Yeah, yeah, I know nothing happened with Jesse and Ralf. But you guys did it, right? While you were gone?"  
"Let it go," said Lissa. Compulsion worked best with direct eye contact, and his attention was focused on me, not her.  
"I mean, it's cool and everything. You guys did what you had to do, right? It's not like you're a feeder. I just want to know what it was like. Danielle Szelsky let me bite her once. She said it didn't feel like anything."  
There was a collective "ew" from among the girls. Sex and blood with dhampirs was dirty; between Moroi, it was cannibalistic.  
"You are such a liar," said Camille.  
"No, I'm serious. It was just a small bite. She didn't get high like the feeders. Did you?" He put his free arm around my shoulder. "Did you like it?" Lissa's face went still and pale. Alcohol muted the full force of her feelings, but I could read enough to know how she felt. Dark, scared thoughts trickled into me - underscored with anger. She usually had a good grip on her temper - unlike me - but I'd seen it flare up before.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise POV

Xander had his arm around Rose, "Just a little blood," Xander was saying. "I won't take much. I just want to see what Dhampir tastes like. Nobody here cares."  
"Xander," growled Lissa, "leave her alone."  
She slipped out from under his arm and smiled, looking for a funny retort rather than one that might start a fight. "Come on," I teased. "She had to hit the last guy who asked her that, and you're a hell of a lot prettier than Jesse. It'd be a waste."  
"Pretty?" he asked. "I'm stunningly sexy but not pretty."  
Carly laughed. "No, you're pretty. Todd told me you buy some kind of French hair gel."  
Xander, distracted as so many drunk people easily are, turned around to defend his honour, forgetting Rose. The tension disappeared, and he took the teasing about his hair with a good attitude. Across the room, Lissa met Rose's eyes with relief. She smiled and gave me a small nod of thanks before she returned her attention to Aaron.

Eloise's POV

I was in my dorm, the rumours about Rose had died down and instead Lissa and Aaron were going out. Christian was pissed as was Mia which by extent meant Alli was pissed as well. I was in my room studying the handwriting again. I had narrowed it down to four people, Natalie, Camilla, another Moroi girl and…and Alli. A knock sounded on my door, I opened it to find Rose. "I need to know about magic." I nodded her in, "This about Lissa not being able to specialise." She nodded and I launched into everything I knew about specialising, "I'm sorry it didn't help but I'll look into it for you."

Rose's POV

A few days later, Lissa found me outside the commons and delivered the most astonishing news.  
"Uncle Victor's getting Natalie off campus this weekend to go shopping in Missoula. For the dance. They said I could come along."  
I didn't say anything. She looked surprised at my silence.  
"Isn't that cool?"  
"For you, I guess. No malls or dances in my future."  
She smiled excitedly. "He told Natalie she could bring two other people besides me. I convinced her to bring you and Camille."  
I threw up my hands. "Well, thanks, but I'm not even supposed to go to the library after school. No one's going to let me go to Missoula."  
"Uncle Victor thinks he can get Headmistress Kirova to let you go. Dimitri's trying too."  
"Dimitri?"  
"Yeah. He has to go with me if I leave campus." She grinned, taking my interest in Dimitri as interest in the mall. "They figured out my account finally - I got my allowance back. So we can buy other stuff along with dresses. And you know if they let you go to the mall, they'll have to let you go to the dance."  
"Do we go to dances now?" I said. We never had before. School-sponsored social events? No way.  
"Of course not. But you know there'll be all kinds of secret parties. We'll start at the dance and sneak off." She sighed happily. "Mia's so jealous she can barely stand it."  
She went on about all the stores we'd go to, all the things we'd buy. I admit, I was kind of excited at the thought of getting some new clothes, but I doubted I'd actually get this mythical release.  
"Oh hey," she said excitedly. "You should see these shoes Camille let me borrow. I never knew we wore the same size. Hang on." She opened her backpack and began rifling through it.  
Suddenly, she screamed and threw it down. Books and shoes spilled out. So did a dead dove.  
It was one of the pale brown mourning doves that sat on wires along the freeway and under trees on campus. It had so much blood on it that I couldn't figure out where the wound was. Who knew something so small even had that much blood? Regardless, the bird was definitely dead.  
Covering her mouth, Lissa stared wordlessly, eyes wide.  
"Son of a bitch," I swore. Without hesitating, I grabbed a stick and pushed the little feathered body aside. When it was out of the way, I started shoving her stuff back into the backpack, trying not to think about dead-bird germs. "Why the hell does this keep - Liss!"  
I leapt over and grabbed her, pulling her away. She had been kneeling on the ground, with her hand outstretched to the dove. I don't think she'd even realized what she was about to do. The instinct in her was so strong, it acted on its own.  
"Lissa," I said, tightening my hand around hers. She was still leaning toward the bird. "Don't. Don't do it."  
"I can save it."  
"No, you can't. You promised, remember? Some things have to stay dead. Let this one go." Still feeling her tension, I pleaded. "Please, Liss. You promised. No more healings. You said you wouldn't. You promised me."  
After a few more moments, I felt her hand relax and her body slump against mine. "I hate this, Rose. I hate all of this."

Eloise's POV

Natalie and I walked out to meet Rose and Lissa, "Hey, do you guys - oh my God!" she squealed, seeing the dove. "What is that?"  
Rose helped Lissa to her feet. "Another, um, prank."  
"Is it...dead?" She scrunched up her face in disgust.  
"Yes," Rose said firmly. "What else is wrong?"  
"Nothing." Rose handed Lissa her backpack. "This is just someone's stupid, sick joke, and I'm going to tell Kirova so they can clean this up."  
Natalie turned away, looking a little green. "Why do people keep doing this to you? It's horrible."  
They exchanged looks.  
"I have no idea," Rose said. I began walking with Natalie again, "Why would anyone do that? It's just horrible." She said sadly, "Yes, truly horrible."

I watched as the group of them left the school to go shopping. Natalie said she was buying me a dress and I would see them later. I was studying in my room when Mason dropped by for a little while, "Hear about the incident with Rose, Lissa and the dead dove?" I nodded, "Yup." I said popping the 'p'. "Hey Ellie, I think I'm in love with Rose." I snapped my pencil, "What?" He repeated. "I just- she's amazing you know? Do you think I have a shot?" I sucked in a breath, "She'd be an idiot if she didn't like you back." He beamed at me. After he left I had a little cry before heading down to the quad. I saw Rose jumping on the benches when it broke under her and she fell to the ground probably breaking her ankle. I reached her first and began breaking the bench apart freeing her foot, Lissa was next to me next closing her eyes and placing her hand on Rose's ankle, it seemed to go back to normal position before my eyes. I looked up at her and widened my eyes, "You're a Spi-" Dimitri knelt next to me, "Get her to the clinic." He picked her up and I heard her whining about how she would be out of training. The others left but Natalie and Victor stayed behind talking together. I stood up on the remaining part of the bench and jumped up and down. This was no accident an Earth user did this, for revenge or as a cruel joke. I had narrowed down the possible 'suspects' Natalie but why would she want to do this, and- and my little sister. Alli was most likely.

When the dance came that weekend I had Natalie helping me get ready, "I really don't fell-" she tugged on my hair, "Shut up your coming." I sunk in my seat as she curled my hair, I was wearing a red dress that was almost completely ignoring the dress code, I was tight at the top and the loosened at my hips, it was a halter neck with one of those small slits just above my breast. I had red high heels with them and a black necklace with a love heart on it. Natalie and I walked down to the dance when I saw Mason beckoning me over, "wanna come with me to collect Rose?" I smiled and nodded. As we made our way across the courtyard he whispered to me, "You look beautiful." I smiled up at him.

Rose's POV

"There you are, party girl. I was about ready to give up." Mason and Eloise stood outside my door.  
"Did you start another fire? No guys allowed in this hall."  
"Whatever. Like that makes a difference." True. The school might be able to keep Strigoi out, but they did a horrible job at keeping the rest of us away from each other. "Let me in. You've got to get ready."  
It took me a minute to realize what he meant. "No. I'm not going."  
"Come on," he prodded, following me inside. " 'Cause you had a fight with Lissa? You guys are going to make up soon. No reason for you to stay here all night. If you don't want to be around her, Eddie's getting a group together over in his room later."  
My old, fun-loving spirit perked its head up just a bit. No Lissa. Probably no royals. "Yeah?"  
Seeing that he was starting to get me, Mason grinned. Looking at his eyes, I realized again how much he liked me. And again I wondered, Why couldn't I just have a normal boyfriend? Why did I want my hot, older mentor - the mentor I'd probably end up getting fired?  
"It'll just be novices," Mason continued, oblivious to my thoughts. "And I have a surprise for you when we get there."  
"Is it in a bottle?" If Lissa wanted to ignore me, I had no reason to keep myself sober. Eloise winked and pulled a flask out of her black purse.  
"No, that's at Eddie's. Hurry up and get dressed. I know you aren't wearing that."  
I looked down at my ripped jeans and University of Oregon T-shirt. Yeah. Definitely not wearing this.  
Fifteen minutes later, we cut across the quad back over to the commons, laughing as we recounted how a particularly clumsy classmate of ours had given himself a black eye in practice this week. Moving quickly over the frozen ground wasn't easy in heels, and he kept grabbing my arm to keep me from falling over, half-dragging me along. It made us laugh that much more. A happy feeling started to well up in me - I wasn't entirely rid of the ache for Lissa, but this was a start.  
Maybe I didn't have her and her friends, but I had my own friends. It was also very likely that I was going to get head-over-heels drunk tonight, which, while not a great way to solve my problems, would at least be really fun. Yeah. My life could be worse.  
Then we ran into Dimitri and Alberta.  
They were on their way somewhere else, talking guardian business. Alberta smiled when she saw us, giving us the kind of indulgent look older people always give to younger people who appear to be having fun and acting silly. Like she thought we were cute. The nerve. We stumbled to a halt, and Mason put a hand on my arm to steady me.  
"Mr. Ashford, Miss Hathaway. I'm surprised you aren't already in the commons."  
Mason gave her an angelic, teacher's-pet smile. "Got delayed, Guardian Petrov. You know how it is with girls. Always got to look perfect. You especially must know all about that."  
Normally I would have elbowed him for saying something so stupid, but I was staring at Dimitri and incapable of speech. Perhaps more importantly, he was staring at me too.  
I had on the black dress, and it was everything I'd hoped it could be. In fact, it was a wonder Alberta didn't call me on the dress code right there and then. The fabric clung everywhere, and no Moroi girl's chest could have held this dress up. Victor's rose hung around my neck, and I'd done a hasty blow-dry of my hair, leaving it down the way I knew Dimitri liked it. I hadn't worn tights because no one wore tights with dresses like this anymore, so my feet were freezing in the heels. All for the sake of looking good.  
And I was pretty sure I looked damn good, but Dimitri's face wasn't giving anything away. He just looked at me - and looked and looked. Maybe that said something about my appearance in and of itself. Remembering how Mason sort of held my hand, I pulled away from him. He and Alberta finished up their joking remarks, and we all went our separate ways.  
Music blasted inside the commons when we arrived, white Christmas lights and - ugh - a disco ball casting the only light in the otherwise darkened room. Gyrating bodies, mostly underclassmen, packed the dance floor. Those who were our age stood in too-cool clusters along the edges of the room, waiting for an opportune time to sneak off. An assortment of chaperones, guardians and Moroi teachers alike, patrolled around, breaking up those dancers who did a little too much gyrating.  
When I saw Kirova in a sleeveless plaid dress, I turned to Mason and said, "Are you sure we can't hit the hard liquor yet?"  
He snickered and took my hand again. "Come on, time for your surprise."  
Letting him lead me, I walked across the room, cutting through a cluster of freshmen who looked way too young to be doing the kind of pelvic thrusts they were attempting.  
Where were the chaperones when you needed them? Then I saw where he was leading me and came to a screeching halt. "No," I said, not budging when he tugged my hand.  
"Come on, it's going to be great."  
"You're taking me to Jesse and Ralf. The only way I can ever be seen with them is if I've got a blunt object, and I'm aiming between their legs."  
He pulled me again. "Not anymore. Come on. You'll want to hear this." Eloise said her blue eyes sparkling  
Reluctant, I finally started moving: my worst fears were realized when a few pairs eyes turned our way. Great. Everything was starting all over again. Jesse and Ralf didn't notice us at first, but when they did, an amusing array of expressions played over their faces. First they saw my body and the dress. Testosterone took over as pure male lust shone out of their faces. Then they seemed to realize it was me and promptly turned terrified. Cool.  
Mason gave Jesse a sharp poke in the chest with the end of his finger. "All right, Zeklos. Tell her."  
Jesse didn't say anything, and Mason repeated the gesture, only harder.  
"Tell her."  
Not meeting my eyes, Jesse mumbled, "Rose, we know none of that stuff happened."  
I almost choked on my own laughter. "Do you? Wow. I'm really glad to hear that. Because you see, until you said that, I'd been thinking it had happened. Thank God you guys are here to set me straight and tell me what the hell I have or haven't done!"  
They flinched, and Mason's light expression darkened to something harder.  
"She knows that," he growled. "Tell her the rest."  
Jesse sighed. "We did it because Mia told us to."  
"And?" prompted Mason.  
"And we're sorry."  
Mason turned to Ralf. "I want to hear it from you, big boy."  
Ralf wouldn't meet my eyes either, but he mumbled something that sounded vaguely like an apology.  
Seeing them defeated, Mason turned chipper. "You haven't heard the best part yet."  
I cut him a sidelong look. "Yeah? Like the part where we rewind time and none of this ever happened?"  
"Next best thing." He tapped Jesse again. "Tell her. Tell her why you did it."  
Jesse looked up and exchanged uneasy looks with Ralf.  
"Boys," warned Mason, clearly delighted about something, "you're making Hathaway and me very angry. Tell her why you did it."  
Wearing the look of one who realized things couldn't get any worse, Jesse finally met my eyes. "We did it because she slept with us. Both of us." My mouth dropped. "Uh...wait...you mean sex?"  
My astonishment prevented me from thinking of a better response. Mason thought it was hysterical. Jesse looked like he wanted to die. And Eloise was being held up by Mason so she didn't fall over from laughter  
"Of course I mean sex. She said she'd do it if we said that we'd...you know..."  
I made a face. "You guys didn't both, uh, do it at the same time, did you?"  
"No," said Jesse in disgust. Ralf kind of looked like he wouldn't have minded.  
"God," I muttered, pushing hair out of my face. "I can't believe she hates us that much."  
"Hey," exclaimed Jesse, reading into my insinuation. "What's that supposed to mean? We're not that bad. And you and me - we were pretty close to - "  
"No. We weren't even close to that." Mason laughed again, and something struck me. "If this...if this happened back then, though...she must have still been dating Aaron."  
All three guys nodded.  
"Oh. Whoa."  
Mia really hated us. She'd just moved beyond poor-girl-wronged-by-girl's-brother and well into sociopath territory. She'd slept with these two and cheated on a boyfriend whom she seemed to adore.  
Jesse and Ralf looked incredibly relieved when we walked away. Mason slung a lazy arm around my shoulders. "Well? What do you think? I rule, right? You can tell me. I won't mind."  
I laughed. "How'd you finally find that out?"  
"We called in a lot of favours. Used some threats. A few bruised faces. The fact that Mia can't retaliate helped too." Eloise said shaking her hand out.  
I recalled Mia accosting me the other day. I didn't think she was entirely helpless yet but didn't say so. "They'll start telling people on Monday." he continued. "They promised. Everyone'll know by lunch."  
"Why not now?" I asked sulkily. "They slept with a girl. Hurts her more than them."  
"Yeah. True. They didn't want to deal with it tonight. You could start telling people if you wanted to. We could make a banner."  
With as many times as Mia had called me a slut and a whore? Not a bad idea. "You got any markers and paper?..."  
My words trailed off as I stared across the gym to where Lissa stood surrounded by admirers, Aaron's arm around her waist. She wore a sleek pink cotton sheath in a shade I never could have pulled off. Her blond hair had been pulled up in a bun that she'd used little crystal hairpins on. It almost looked like she wore a crown. Princess Vasilisa.  
The same feelings as earlier hummed through to me, anxiety and excitement. She just couldn't quite enjoy herself tonight.  
Watching her from the other side of the room, lurking in the darkness, was Christian. He practically blended into the shadows.  
"Stop it," Mason chided me, seeing my stare. "Don't worry about her tonight."  
"Hard not to."  
"It makes you look all depressed. And you're too hot in that dress to look depressed. Come on, there's Eddie."  
He dragged me away, but not before I cast one last glance at Lissa over my shoulder. Our eyes met briefly. Regret flashed through the bond.  
But I pushed her out of my head - figuratively speaking - and managed to put on a good face when we joined a group of other novices. We earned a lot of mileage by telling them about the Mia scandal and, petty or not, seeing my name cleared and getting revenge on her felt amazingly good. And as those in our group wandered off and mingled with others, I could see the news spreading and spreading. So much for waiting until Monday.  
Whatever. I didn't care. I was actually having a good time. I fell into my old role, happy to see I hadn't grown too dusty in making funny and flirty remarks. Yet, as time passed and Eddie's party grew closer, I started to feel Lissa's anxiety pick up in intensity. Frowning, I stopped talking and turned around, scanning the room for her.  
There. She was still with a group of people, still the sun in her little solar system. But Aaron was leaning very close to her, saying something in her ear. A smile I recognized as fake was plastered across her face, and the annoyance and anxiety from her increased further.  
Then it spiked. Mia had walked up to them.  
Whatever she'd come to say, she didn't waste any time in saying it. With the eyes of Lissa's admirers on her, little Mia in her red dress gestured wildly, mouth working animatedly. I couldn't hear the words from across the room, but the feelings grew darker and darker through the bond.  
"I've got to go," I told Mason.  
I half walked, half ran over to Lissa's side, catching only the tail end of Mia's tirade. She was yelling at Lissa full force now and leaning into her face. From what I could tell, word must have reached her about Jesse and Ralf selling her out.  
" - you and your slutty friend! I'm going to tell everyone what a psycho you are and how they had to lock you in the clinic because you're so crazy. They're putting you on medication. That's why you and Rose left before anyone else could find out you cut - "  
Whoa, not good. Just like at our first meeting in the cafeteria, I grabbed her and jerked her away.  
"Hey," I said. "Slutty friend here. Remember what I said about standing too close to her?"  
Mia snarled, baring her fangs. As I'd noted before, I couldn't feel too sorry for her anymore. She was dangerous.  
She had stooped low to get back at me. Now, somehow, she knew about Lissa and the cutting. Really knew, too; she wasn't just guessing. The information she had now sounded both like what the guardians on the scene had reported, as well as what I'd told them about Lissa's history. Maybe some confidential doctor's stuff too. Mia'd snagged the records somehow.  
Lissa realized it too, and the look on her face - scared and fragile, no more princess - made my decision for me. It didn't matter that Kirova had spoken the other day about giving me my freedom, that I'd been having a good time, and that I could have let my worries go and partied tonight. I was going to ruin everything, right here and right now.  
I'm really not good with impulse control.  
I punched Mia as hard as I could - harder, I think, than I'd even hit Jesse. I heard a crunch as my fist impacted her nose, and blood spurted out. Someone screamed. Mia shrieked and flew backwards into some squealing girls who didn't want to get blood on their dresses. I swooped in after her, getting in one more good punch before somebody peeled me off her.  
I didn't fight restraint as I had when they'd taken me from Mr. Nagy's classroom. I'd expected this as soon as I'd swung at her. Stopping all signs of resistance, I let two guardians lead me out of the dance while Ms. Kirova tried to bring some semblance of order. I didn't care what they did to me. Not anymore. Punish or expel. Whatever. I could handle -  
Ahead of us, through the ebbing and flowing waves of students passing through the double doors, I saw a figure in pink dart out. Lissa. My own out-of-control emotions had overridden hers, but there they were, flooding back into me. Devastation. Despair. Everyone knew her secret now. She'd face more than just idle speculation. Pieces would fall together. She couldn't handle that.  
Knowing I wasn't going anywhere, I frantically searched for some way to help her. A dark figure caught my eye. "Christian!" I yelled. He'd been staring at Lissa's retreating figure but glanced up at the sound of his name.  
One of my escorts shushed me and took my arm. "Be quiet."  
I ignored her. "Go after her," I called to Christian. "Hurry."  
He just sat there, and I suppressed a groan.  
"Go, you idiot!" He ran after her and I saw a streak of red chase after them as well. As I sat in my room I was pulled into her head. Christian was hurt.  
I snapped back into Lissa's body, suddenly sucked in by the terror pounding through her. She was surrounded, surrounded by men and women who had come out of nowhere, bursting up into the attic of the chapel where she and Christian had gone to talk. Christian leapt up, fire flaring from his fingers. One of the invaders hit him on the head with something hard, making his body slump to the ground. I desperately hoped he was okay, but I couldn't waste any more energy worrying about him. All my fear was for Lissa now. I couldn't let the same thing happen to her. I couldn't let them hurt her. I needed to save her, to get her out of there. But I didn't know how. She was too far away, and I couldn't even escape her head at the moment, let alone run over there or get help.  
The attackers approached her, calling her Princess and telling her not to worry, and that they were guardians. And they did seem like guardians. Definitely dhampirs. Moving in precise, efficient ways. But I didn't recognize them as any of the guardians from school. Neither did Lissa. Guardians wouldn't have attacked Christian. And guardians certainly wouldn't be binding and gagging her and then Eloise was there attacking them she looked like a Guardian despite her red dress and bare feet. She jumped and pulled Lissa behind her it was twenty to one but Eloise was doing well until a male Guardian flung her into the wall where she remained still and un-moving against the base of it.  
Something forced me out of her head, and I frowned, staring around my room. I needed to go back to her and find out what had happened. Usually the connection just faded or I closed it off, but this - this was like something had actually removed me and pulled me. Pulled me back here.  
But that made no sense. What could pull me back from...wait.  
My mind blanked.  
I couldn't remember what I'd just been thinking about. It was gone. Like static in my brain. Where had I been? With Lissa? What about Lissa?  
Standing up, I wrapped my arms around myself, confused, trying to figure out what was going on. Lissa. Something with Lissa.  
Dimitri, a voice inside my head suddenly said. Go to Dimitri.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise's POV

I woke up to Guardians buzzing around the room, Rose was next to me and Dimitri next to her, "They were Victor Dashkov's Guardian. Rose, Rose he's going to use her healing powers so he can live." I tried to get up but a sharp pain to the back of my head disabled me from doing so, "Go, go get her!" A Guardian was there picking me up and carrying me to the medic as I blacked out.

Rose's POV

We were on our way when I was pulled in. "Come, child," said Victor, moving into the cabin, unsteady on his cane. One of his guardians held the door open. Another pushed Lissa along and settled her into a chair near a small table inside. It was cold in here, especially in the pink dress. Victor sat across from her. When she started to get up, a guardian gave her a warning look. "Do you think I'd seriously hurt you?"  
"What did you do to Christian and Eloise?" she cried, ignoring the question. "Are they dead?

"The Ozera boy? I didn't mean for that to happen. We didn't expect him to be there. We'd hoped to catch you alone, to convince others you'd run away again. We'd made sure rumors already circulated about that. And Eloise will be fine, she truly is a good guardian."  
We? I recalled how the stories had resurfaced this week...from Natalie.  
"Now?" He sighed, spreading his hands wide in a helpless gesture. "I don't know. I doubt anyone will connect it to us, even if they don't believe you ran away. Rose is the biggest liability. We'd intended to...dispatch her, letting others think she'd run away as well. The spectacle she created at your dance made that impossible, but I had another plan in place to make sure she stays occupied for some time...probably until tomorrow. We will have to contend with her later."  
He hadn't counted on Dimitri figuring out the spell. He'd figured we'd be too busy getting it on all night. "Why?" asked Lissa. "Why are you doing all this?"  
His green eyes widened, reminding her of her father's.  
They might be distant relatives, but that jade-green colour ran in both the Dragomirs and the Dashkovs. "I'm surprised you even have to ask, my dear. I need you. I need you to heal me."

Eloise's POV.

I was just discharged from the clinic when I saw the Guardians returning. Standing in the courtyard I saw Victor getting escorted to the holding cells, he saw me and I smirked in response. Lissa was walking along side Christian who was being supported by two Guardians and then Rose being carried by Dimitri, behind them was the rest of the Guardians escorting Victor's Guardians to the cells. I held my hand up as the passed and found the guy who had thrown me, punching him square in the face I let them continue. Alli came running up to me, "Are you okay? Gosh I feel so bad about being so mean to Lissa and Rose, I should go apologize. That's right I'll go apologize." She raced off after giving me a hug, "I love you, big sis." I watched her go and knew it wasn't her. Time to find Natalie.

I had almost circled the whole Acadmey when I saw her exiting a class room, "Killed any animals lately? Broken any benched?" She turned and looked at me with wide eyes. Wide red eyes. She had turned into a Strigoi. I launched at her and she dodged, "When did you become so low!" I growled at her. Jumping I landed a swift kick to her stomach and then one to her face. She howled in pain and tried to grab me but I had been training since I was three. I kept getting good punches and kick in her and went to reach for my stake when she grabbed me by my shirt and threw me backwards making me hit a wall and fall, she took this advantage to run. I staggered to my feet and checked in the class room to see Mr

Rose's POV

Victor stood up. "Finally."  
Fear spiked down my spine - at least until I saw Natalie round the corner. Mixed sympathy and anger flitted through me, but I forced a kind smile. She probably wouldn't see her father again once they took him. Villain or no, they should be allowed to say goodbye.  
"Hey," I said, watching her stride toward me. There was an unusual purpose in her movements that some part of me whispered wasn't right. "I didn't think they'd let you in." Of course, they weren't supposed to have let me in either.  
She walked right up to me and - no exaggeration - launched me against the far wall. My body hit it hard, and black star-bursts danced across my vision.  
"What?..." I put a hand to my forehead and tried to get up.  
Unconcerned about me now, Natalie unlocked Victor's cell with a set of keys I'd seen on one of the guardian's belts. Staggering to my feet, I approached her.  
"What are you doing?"  
She glanced up at me, and that's when I saw it. The faint ring of red around her pupils. Skin too pale, even for a Moroi. Blood smudged around her mouth. And most telling of all, the look in her eyes. A look so cold and so evil, my heart nearly came to a standstill. It was a look that said she no longer walked among the living - a look that said she was now one of the Strigoi. IN SPITE OF ALL THE training I'd received, all the lessons on Strigoi habits and how to defend against them, I'd never ever actually seen one. It was scarier than I'd expected.  
This time, when she swung at me again, I was ready. Sort of. I dodged back, slipping out of reach, wondering what chance I had. I remembered Dimitri's joke about the mall. No silver stake. Nothing to cut her head off with. No way to set her on fire. Running seemed like the best option after all, but she was blocking my way.  
Feeling useless, I simply backed down the hall as she advanced on me, her movements far more graceful than they'd ever been in life.  
Then, also faster than she'd ever moved in life, she leapt out, grabbed me, and slammed my head against the wall. Pain exploded in my skull, and I felt pretty sure that was blood I tasted in the back of my mouth. Frantically, I fought against her, trying to mount some kind of defense, but it was like fighting Dimitri on crack.  
"My dear," murmured Victor, "try not to kill her if you don't have to. We might be able to use her later."  
Natalie paused in her attack, giving me a moment to back up, but she never took her cold eyes off me. "I'll try not to."  
There was a skeptical tone in her voice. "Get out of here now. I'll meet you there when I'm done."  
"I can't believe you!" I yelled after him. "You got your own daughter to turn Strigoi?"  
"A last resort. A necessary sacrifice made for the greater good. Natalie understands." He left.  
"Do you?" I hoped I could stall her with talking, just like in the movies. I also hoped my questions would hide how utterly and completely terrified I was. "Do you understand? God, Natalie. You...you turned. Just because he told you to?"  
"My father's a great man," she replied. "He's going to save the Moroi from the Strigoi."  
"Are you insane?" I cried. I was backing up again and suddenly hit the wall. My nails dug into it, as though I could dig my way through. "You are a Strigoi."  
She shrugged, almost seeming like the old Natalie. "I had to do it to get him out of here before the others came. One Strigoi to save all of the Moroi. It's worth it, worth giving up the sun and the magic."  
"But you'll want to kill Moroi! You won't be able to help it."  
"He'll help me stay in control. If not, then they'll have to kill me." She reached out and grabbed my shoulders, and I shuddered at how casually she talked about her own death. It was almost as casual as the way she was no doubt contemplating my death.  
"You are insane. You can't love him that much. You can't really - "  
She threw me into a wall again, and as my body collapsed in a heap on the floor, I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting up this time. Victor had told her not to kill me...but there was a look in her eyes, a look that said she wanted to. She wanted to feed off me; the hunger was there. It was the Strigoi way. I shouldn't have talked to her, I realized. I'd hesitated, just as Dimitri had warned.  
And then, suddenly, he was there, charging down the hallway like Death in a cowboy duster.  
Natalie spun around. She was fast, so fast. But Dimitri was fast too and avoided her attack, a look of pure power and strength on his face. With an eerie fascination, I watched them move, circling each other like partners in a deadly dance. She was stronger than him, clearly, but she was also a fresh Strigoi. Gaining superpowers doesn't mean you know how to use them. But she was still a good fighter, Dimitri was flung against a wall but flew back and kicked her sending her into a wall. And the Eloise was there pinning her best friend to the wall, Dimitri ran to me and picked me up. Eloise landed at our feet in a spider kind of pose with one of her legs bent and the other extended she whipped her head up and growled low and agressivly, "Go." She sprung at Natalie and the Dimitri and I were moving, he was running toward the clinic, "Hey, Comrade," I murmured, my own voice sounding sleepy. "You were right about Strigoi. You should go back and help Elli" The world started to darken, and my eyelids drooped.  
"Rose. Roza. Open your eyes." I'd never heard his voice so strained, so frantic. "Don't go to sleep on me. Not yet."  
I squinted up at him as he carried me out of the building, practically running toward the clinic. "Was he right?"  
"Who?"  
"Victor...he said it couldn't have worked. The necklace."  
I started to drift off, lost in the blackness of my mind, but Dimitri prompted me back to consciousness.  
"What do you mean?"  
"The spell. Victor said you had to want me...to care about me...for it to work." When he didn't say anything, I tried to grip his shirt, but my fingers were too weak. "Did you? Did you want me?"  
His words came out thickly. "Yes, Roza. I did want you. I still do. I wish...we could be together."  
"Then why did you lie to me?"  
We reached the clinic, and he managed to open the door while still holding me. As soon as he stepped inside, he began yelling for help.  
"Why did you lie?" I murmured again.  
Still holding me in his arms, he looked down at me. I could hear voices and footsteps getting closer. "Because we can't be together."  
"Because of the age thing, right?" I asked. "Because you're my mentor?"  
His fingertip gently wiped away a tear that had escaped down my cheek. "That's part of it," he said. "But also...well, you and I will both be Lissa's guardians someday. I need to protect her at all costs. If a pack of Strigoi come, I need to throw my body between them and her."  
"I know that. Of course that's what you have to do." The black sparkles were dancing in front of my eyes again. I was fading out.  
"No. If I let myself love you, I won't throw myself in front of her. I'll throw myself in front of you."  
The medical team arrived and took me out of his arms.

Dimitri's POV

Once I had dropped Rose off and knew she was in safe I headed back to the cells quickly. I found Natalie's dead body on the ground a stake next to her, Ellie was sitting on the steps head in her hands. I sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "You okay." She looked up at me and I saw a cut just on her hair line that would scar, "I just killed my best friend." She said looking at me with a 'do you think I'm okay expression.' "For a little while I thought that it was my sister doing all the attacks but then I heard about Victor Dashkov and knew it was Natalie doing her father's dirty work. I probably should have told someone." I stood and quickly found some guards to clean the body up. I sat back down with her, "Never hesitate right?" She asked and I nodded, "Rule number 1." She said, "I keep forgetting that you've done this before. That you've killed Strigoi before." She snapped her head in my direction, "How do you know, huh? How do you know I killed them! I don't remember it! Alli says she does but she was 12! All I remember from that night is watching our parents being killed and then being bitten! I don't remember driving a stake into any of them! It could have been you that killed them, oh wait I forgot you were too late!" I grabbed her wrists. "You didn't stake them. You set them on fire. A lighter was found in your hand, and alcohol all over them. Your grabbed whiskey off your father's drinking cabinet and threw it all over the three of them before lighting them on fire." Her eyes turned glossy and she collapsed into my arms. "I'm trying to block it out but it won't go away. Their screams, Alli's screams. It's too much." I soothed her hair back. "Shh. It's alright."

Rose's POV

And that was how, two days after being discharged, I ended up back in the clinic. My third time in the two months we'd been back at the Academy. It had to be some kind of record. I definitely had a concussion and probably internal bleeding, but we never really found out. When your best friend is a kick-ass healer, you sort of don't have to worry about those things.

I still had to stay there for a couple of days, but Lissa - and Christian, her new sidekick - almost never left my side when they weren't in class. Through them, I learned bits and pieces about the outside world. Dimitri had realized there was a Strigoi on campus when they'd found Natalie's victim dead and drained of blood: Mr. Nagy of all people. A surprising choice, but since he was older, he'd been able to put up less of a fight. No more Slavic art for us. The guardians in the detention centre had been injured but not killed. She'd simply slammed them around as she had me. And Natalie was killed at the hands of Eloise who was in the clinic with me but got to leave a day after she came in. She smiled and winked at me as she left still as care-free as before, apparently she had been investigating all the animal deaths and all signs pointed to Natalie and had fought with her just outside of Mr Nagy's classroom, before killing her in the cells.

Victor had been found and recaptured while trying to escape campus. I was glad, even though it meant Natalie's sacrifice had been for nothing. Rumours said that Victor hadn't seemed afraid at all when the royal guards came and carried him away. He'd simply smiled the whole time, like he had some secret they didn't know about.

Inasmuch as it could, life returned to normal after that. Lissa did no more cutting. The doctor prescribed her something - an anti-depressant or anti-anxiety drug, I couldn't remember which - that made her feel better. I'd never really known anything about those kinds of pills. I thought they made people silly and happy. But it was a pill like any other, meant to fix something, and mostly it just kept her normal and feeling stable.

Which was a good thing - because she had some other issues to deal with. Like Andre. She'd finally believed Christian's story, and allowed herself to acknowledge that Andre might not have been the hero she'd always believed him to be. It was hard on her, but she finally reached a peaceful decision, accepting that he could have had both good and bad sides, like we all do. What he'd done to Mia saddened her, but it didn't change the fact that he'd been a good brother who loved her. Most importantly, it finally freed her from feeling like she needed to be him to make her family proud. She could be herself - which she proved daily in her relationship with Christian.

The school still couldn't get over that. She didn't care. She laughed it off, ignoring the shocked looks and disdain from the royals who couldn't believe she'd date someone from a humiliated family. Not all of them felt that way though. Some who had gotten to know her during her brief social whirlwind actually liked her for her, no compulsion necessary. They liked her honesty and openness, preferring it to the games most royals played.

A lot of royals ignored her, of course, and talked viciously about her behind her back. Most surprising of all, Mia - despite being utterly humiliated - managed to wiggle back into the good graces of a couple of these royals. It proved my point. She wouldn't stay down for long. And, in fact, I saw the first signs of her revenge lurking again when I walked past her one day on the way to class. She stood with a few other people and spoke loudly, clearly wanting me to hear.

" - perfect match. Both of them are from completely disgraced and rejected families."

I clenched my teeth and kept walking, following her gaze to where Lissa and Christian stood. They were lost in their own world and formed a gorgeous picture, she blond and fair and he blue-eyed and black-haired. I couldn't help but stare too. Mia was right. Both of their families were disgraced. Tatiana had publicly denounced Lissa, and while no one "blamed" the Ozeras for what had happened to Christian's parents, the rest of the royal Moroi families continued to keep their distance.

But Mia had been right about the other part too. In some ways, Lissa and Christian were perfect for each other. Maybe they were outcasts, but the Dragomirs and Ozeras had once been among the most powerful Moroi leaders. And in only a very short time, Lissa and Christian had started shaping one another in ways that could put them right up there with their ancestors. He was picking up some of her polish and social poise; she was learning to stand up for her passions. The more I watched them, the more I could see an energy and confidence radiating around them.

They weren't going to stay down either.

And I think that, along with Lissa's kindness, may have been what attracted people to her. Our social circle began to steadily grow. Mason joined, of course, and made no secret of his interest in me. Lissa teased me a lot about that, and I didn't yet know what to do about him. Part of me thought maybe it was time to give him a shot as a serious boyfriend, even though the rest of me yearned for Dimitri. Eloise had also joined our group along with Eddie.

For the most part, Dimitri treated me just like anyone would expect of a mentor. He was efficient. Fond. Strict. Understanding. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would make anyone suspect what had passed between us - save for an occasional meeting of our eyes. And once I overcame my initial emotional reaction, I knew he was - technically - right about us. Age was a problem, yes, particularly while I was still a student at the Academy. But the other thing he'd mentioned...it had never entered my mind. It should have. Two guardians in a relationship could distract each other from the Moroi they were supposed to protect. We couldn't allow that to happen, couldn't risk her life for our own wants. Otherwise, we'd be no better than the Badica guardian who'd run off. I'd told Dimitri once that my own feelings didn't matter. She came first.

I just hoped I could prove it.

We had also found out that Eloise had a bond with her sister. Not like Lissa's and mine she could just go into her sister mind, couldn't feel her emotions or anything like that. Apparently it was a family gene or something like that. I had become good friends with Eloise who had just gotten her fourth molnija mark she had told me Dimitri had told her Stan was worried she would surpass him in how many marks she got.

Eloise's POV

I sat with Mason in my bedroom. "So I'm thinking of asking Rose out." Yes of course he was. I smiled and whispered, "I love you." He looked at me, "Sorry what did you say?" I smiled, "Nothing, I said absolutely nothing." I smiled and watched as he studied.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Rose's POV

I didn't think my day could get any worse until my best friend told me she might be going crazy. Again.  
"I... what did you say?"  
I stood in the lobby of her dorm, leaning over one of my boots and adjusting it. Jerking my head up, I peered at her through the tangle of dark hair covering half my face. I'd fallen asleep after school and had skipped using a hairbrush in order to make it out the door on time. Lissa's platinum blond hair was smooth and perfect, of course,9 hanging over her shoulders like a bridal veil as she watched me with amusement.  
"I said that I think my pills might not be working as well anymore."  
I straightened up and shook the hair out of my face. "What does that mean?" I asked. Around us, Moroi hurried past, on their way to meet friends or go to dinner.  
"Have you started ..." I lowered my voice. "Have you started getting your powers back?"  
She shook her head, and I saw a small flash of regret in her eyes. "No ... I feel closer to the magic, but I still can't use it. Mostly what I'm noticing lately is a little of the other stuff, you know...I'm getting more depressed now and then. Nothing even close to what it used to be," she added hastily, seeing my face. Before she'd gone on her pills, Lissa's moods could get so low that she cut herself. "It's just there a little more than it was."  
"What about the other things you used to get? Anxiety? Delusional thinking?"  
Lissa laughed, not taking any of this as seriously as I was. "You sound like you've been reading psychiatry textbooks."  
I actually had been reading them. "I'm just worried about you. If you think the pills aren't working anymore, we need to tell someone."  
"No, no," she said hastily. "I'm fine, really. They're still working...just not quite as much. I don't think we should panic yet. Especially you¡ªnot today, at least."  
Her change in subject worked. I'd found out an hour ago that I would be taking my Qualifier today. It was an exam¡ªor rather, an interview¡ªall novice guardians were required to pass during junior year at St. Vladimir's Academy. Since I'd been off hiding Lissa last year, I'd missed mine. Today I was being taken to a guardian somewhere off-campus who would administer the test to me. Thanks for the notice, guys.  
"Don't worry about me," Lissa repeated, smiling. "I'll let you know if it gets worse."  
"Okay," I said reluctantly  
Just to be safe, though, I opened my senses and allowed myself to truly feel her through our psychic bond. She had been telling the truth. She was calm and happy this morning, nothing to worry about. But, far back in her mind, I sensed a knot of dark, uneasy feelings. It wasn't consuming her or anything, but it had the same feel as the bouts of depression and anger she used to get. It was only a trickle, but I didn't like it. I didn't want it there at all. I tried pushing farther inside her to get a better feel for the emotions and suddenly had the weird experience of touching. A sickening sort of feeling seized me, and I jerked out of her head. A small shudder ran through my body.  
"You okay?" Lissa asked, frowning. "You look nauseous all of a sudden."  
"Just...nervous for the test," I lied. Hesitantly, I reached out through the bond again. The darkness had completely disappeared. No trace. Maybe there was nothing wrong with her pills after all. "I'm fine."  
She pointed at a clock. "You won't be if you don't get moving soon."  
"Damn it," I swore. She was right. I gave her a quick hug. "See you later!"  
"Good luck!" she called.  
I hurried off across campus and found my mentor, Dimitri Belikov, waiting beside a Honda Pilot. How boring. I supposed I couldn't have expected us to navigate Montana mountain roads in a Porsche, but it would have been nice to have something cooler.  
"I know, I know," I said, seeing his face. "Sorry I'm late."  
I remembered then that I had one of the most important tests of my life coming up, and suddenly, I forgot all about Lissa and her pills possibly not working. I wanted to protect her, but that wouldn't mean much if I couldn't pass high school and actually become her guardian.  
Dimitri stood there, looking as gorgeous as ever. The massive, brick building cast long shadows over us, looming like some great beast in the dusky predawn light. Around us, snow was just beginning to fall. I watched the light, crystalline flakes drift gently down. Several landed and promptly melted in his dark hair.

"Who else is going?" I asked.  
He shrugged. "Just you and me. Eloise is meeting us there, she has her own car."  
My mood promptly shot up past "cheerful" and went straight to "ecstatic." Me and Dimitri. Alone. In a car. This might very well be worth a surprise test.  
"How far away is it?" Silently, I begged for it to be a really long drive. Like, one that would take a week. And would involve us staying overnight in luxury hotels. Maybe we'd get stranded in a snow bank, and only body heat would keep us alive. "Five hours."  
"Oh."  
A bit less than I'd hoped for. Still, five hours was better than nothing. It didn't rule out the snow bank possibility, either.  
The dim, snowy roads would have been difficult for humans to navigate, but they proved no problem for our dhampir eyes. I stared ahead, trying not to think about how Dimitri's aftershave filled the car with a clean, sharp scent that made me want to melt. Instead, I tried to focus on the Qualifier again.

It wasn't the kind of thing you could study for. You either passed it or you didn't. High-up guardians visited novices during their junior year and met individually to discuss students' commitment to being guardians. I didn't know exactly what was asked, but rumors had trickled down over the years. The older guardians assessed character and dedication, and some novices had been deemed unfit to continue down the guardian path.

"Don't they usually come to the Academy?" I asked Dimitri. "I mean, I'm all for the field trip, but why are we going to them?"  
"Actually, you're just going to a him, not a them." A light Russian accent laced Dimitri's words, the only indication of where he'd grown up. Otherwise, I was pretty sure he spoke English better than I did. "Since this is a special case and he's doing us the favor, we're the ones making the trip."  
"Who is he?"  
"Arthur Schoenberg."  
I jerked my gaze from the road to Dimitri.  
"What?" I squeaked.  
Arthur Schoenberg was a legend. He was one of the greatest Strigoi slayers in living guardian history and used to be the head of the Guardians Council¡ªthe group of people who assigned guardians to Moroi and made decisions for all of us. He'd eventually retired and gone back to protecting one of the royal families, the Badicas. Even retired, I knew he was still lethal. His exploits were part of my curriculum.  
"Wasn't... wasn't there anyone else available?" I asked in a small voice.  
I could see Dimitri hiding a smile. "You'll be fine. Besides, if Art approves of you, that's a great recommendation to have on your record."  
Art. Dimitri was on a first-name basis with one of the most badass guardians around. Of course, Dimitri was pretty badass himself, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Silence fell in the car. I bit my lip, suddenly wondering if I'd be able to meet Arthur Schoenberg's standards. My grades were good, but things like running away and getting into fights at school might cast a shadow on how serious I was about my future career.  
"You'll be fine," Dimitri repeated. "The good in your record outweighs the bad."  
It was like he could read my mind sometimes. I smiled a little and dared to peek at him. It was a mistake. A long, lean body, obvious even while sitting. Bottomless dark eyes. Shoulder-length brown hair tied back at his neck. That hair felt like silk. I knew because I'd run my fingers through it when Victor Dashkov had ensnared us with the lust charm. With great restraint, I forced myself to start breathing again and look away.  
"Thanks, Coach," I teased, snuggling back into the seat.  
"I'm here to help," he replied. His voice was light and relaxed¡ªrare for him. He was usually wound up tightly, ready for any attack. Probably he figured he was safe inside a Honda¡ªor at least as safe as he could be around me. I wasn't the only one who had trouble ignoring the romantic tension between us.  
"You know what would really help?" I asked, not meeting his eyes.  
"Hmm?"  
"If you turned off this crap music and put on something that came out after the Berlin Wall went down."  
Dimitri laughed. "Your worst class is history, yet somehow, you know everything about Eastern Europe."  
"Hey, gotta have material for my jokes, Comrade."  
Still smiling, he turned the radio dial. To a country station.  
"Hey! This isn't what I had in mind," I exclaimed.  
I could tell he was on the verge of laughing again. "Pick. It's one or the other."  
I sighed. "Go back to the 1980¡¯s stuff."  
He flipped the dial, and I crossed my arms over my chest as some vaguely European-sounding band sang about how video had killed the radio star. I wished someone would kill this radio.  
Suddenly, five hours didn't seem as short as I'd thought.  
Arthur and the family he protected lived in a small town along I-90, not far from Billings. The general Moroi opinion was split on places to live. Some argued that big cities were the best since they allowed vampires to be lost in the crowds; nocturnal activities didn't raise so much attention. Other Moroi, like this family, apparently, opted for less populated towns, believing that if there were fewer people to notice you, then you were less likely to be noticed.  
I'd convinced Dimitri to stop for food at a twenty-four-hour diner along the way, and between that and stopping to buy gas, it was around noon when we arrived. The house was built in a rambler style, all one level with gray-stained wood siding and big bay windows¡ªtinted to block sunlight, of course. It looked new and expensive, and even out in the middle of nowhere, it was about what I'd expected for members of a royal family.  
I jumped down from the Pilot, my boots sinking through an inch of smooth snow and crunching on the gravel of the driveway. The day was still and silent, save for the occasional breath of wind. Dimitri and I walked up to the house, following a river rock sidewalk that cut through the front yard. I could see him sliding into his business mode, but his overall attitude was as cheery as mine. We'd both taken a kind of guilty satisfaction in the pleasant car ride.  
My foot slipped on the ice-covered sidewalk, and Dimitri instantly reached out to steady me. I had a weird moment of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, flashing back to the first night we'd met, back when he'd also saved me from a similar fall. Freezing temperatures or not, his hand felt warm on my arm, even through the layers of down in my parka coat.  
"You okay?" He released his hold, to my dismay.  
"Yeah," I said, casting accusing eyes at the icy sidewalk. "Haven't these people ever heard of salt?"  
I meant it jokingly, but Dimitri suddenly stopped walking. I instantly came to a halt too. His expression became tense and alert. He turned his head, eyes searching the broad, white plains surrounding us before settling back on the house. I wanted to ask questions, but something in his posture told me to stay silent. He studied the building for almost a full minute, looked down at the icy sidewalk, then glanced back at the driveway, covered in a sheet of snow broken only by our footprints. We got out of the car and the door flung open to reveal Eloise shaking her head and pointing back to the car.  
Finally, he said quietly, "Rose, go wait in the car."  
"But wh-"  
"Go."  
One word but one filled with power. In that single syllable I was reminded of the man I'd seen throw people around and stake a Strigoi. I backed up, walking on the snow-covered lawn rather than risk the sidewalk. Dimitri stood where he was, not moving until I'd slipped back into the car, closing the door as softly as possible. Then, with the gentlest of movements, he pushed on the barely held door and disappeared inside.  
Burning with curiosity, I counted to ten and then climbed out of the car.  
I knew better than to go in after him, but I had to know what was going on with this house. The neglected sidewalk and driveway indicated that no one had been home for a couple days, although it could also mean the Badicas simply never left the house. It was possible, I supposed, that they'd been the victims of an ordinary break-in by humans. It was also possible that something had scared them off¡ªsay, like Strigoi. I knew that possibility was what had made Dimitri's face turn so grim, but it seemed an unlikely scenario with Arthur Schoenberg on duty.  
Standing on the driveway, I glanced up at the sky. The light was bleak and watery, but it was there. Noon. The sun's highest point today. Strigoi couldn't be out in sunlight. I didn't need to fear them, only Dimitri's anger.  
I circled around the right side of the house, walking in much deeper snow almost a foot of it. Nothing else weird about the house struck me. Icicles hung from the eaves, and the tinted windows revealed no secrets. My foot suddenly hit something, and I looked down. There, half-buried in the snow, was a silver stake. It had been driven into the ground. I picked it up and brushed off the snow, frowning. What was a stake doing out here? Silver stakes were valuable. They were a guardian's most deadly weapon, capable of killing a Strigoi with a single strike through the heart. When they were forged, four Moroi charmed them with magic from each of the four elements. I hadn't learned to use one yet, but gripping it in my hand, I suddenly felt safer as I continued my survey.  
A large patio door led from the back of the house to a wooden deck that probably would have been a lot of fun to hang out on in the summer. But the patio's glass had been broken, so much so that a person could easily get through the jagged hole. I crept up the deck steps, careful of the ice, knowing I was going to get in major trouble when Dimitri found out what I was doing. In spite of the cold, sweat poured down my neck.  
Daylight, daylight, I reminded myself. Nothing to worry about.  
I reached the patio and studied the dark glass. I couldn't tell what had broken it. Just inside, snow had blown in and made a small drift on pale blue carpet. I tugged on the door's handle, but it was locked. Not that that mattered with a hole that big. Careful of the sharp edges, I reached through the opening and unlocked the handle's latch from the inside. I removed my hand just as carefully and pulled open the sliding door. It hissed slightly along its tracks, a quiet sound that nonetheless seemed too loud in the eerie silence.  
I stepped through the doorway, standing in the patch of sunlight that had been cast inside by opening the door. My eyes adjusted from the sun to the dimness within. Wind swirled through the open patio, dancing with the curtains around me. I was in a living room. It had all the ordinary items one might expect. Couches. TV. A rocking chair.  
And a body.  
It was a woman. She lay on her back in front of the TV, her dark hair spilling on the floor around her. Her wide eyes stared upward blankly, her face pale¡ªtoo pale even for a Moroi. For a moment I thought her long hair was covering her neck, too, until I realized that the darkness across her skin was blood dried blood. Her throat had been ripped out.  
The horrible scene was so surreal that I didn't even realize what I was seeing at first. With her posture, the woman might very well have been sleeping. Then I took in the other body: a man on his side only a couple feet away, dark blood staining the carpet around him. Another body was slumped beside the couch: small, child-size. Across the room was another. And another. There were bodies everywhere, bodies and blood.  
The scale of the death around me suddenly registered, and my heart began pounding. No, no. It wasn't possible. It was day. Bad things couldn't happen in daylight. A scream started to rise in my throat, suddenly halted when a gloved hand came from behind me and closed over my mouth. I started to struggle; then I smelled Dimitri's aftershave.  
"Why," he asked, "don't you ever listen? You'd be dead if they were still here."  
I couldn't answer, both because of the hand and my own shock. I'd seen someone die once, but I'd never seen death of this magnitude. After almost a minute, Dimitri finally removed his hand, but he stayed close behind me. I didn't want to look anymore, but I seemed unable to drag my eyes away from the scene before me. Bodies everywhere. Bodies and blood. Eloise stood on guard by the door.  
Finally, I turned toward him. "It's daytime," I whispered. "Bad things don't happen in the day." I heard the desperation in my voice, a little girl's plea that someone would say this was all a bad dream.  
"Bad things can happen anytime," Eloise told me. "And this didn't happen during the day. This probably happened a couple of nights ago."  
I dared a peek back at the bodies and felt my stomach twist. Two days. Two days to be dead, to have your existence snuffed out without anyone in the world even knowing you were gone. My eyes fell on a man's body near the room's entrance to a hallway. He was tall, too well-built to be a Moroi. Dimitri must have noticed where I looked.  
"Arthur Schoenberg," he said.  
I stared at Arthur's bloody throat. "He's dead," I said, as though it wasn't perfectly obvious. "How can he be dead? How could a Strigoi kill Arthur Schoenberg?" It didn't seem possible. You couldn't kill a legend.  
Dimitri didn't answer. Instead his hand moved down and closed around where my own hand held the stake. I flinched.  
"Where did you get this?" he asked. I loosened my grip and let him take the stake.  
"Outside. In the ground."  
He held up the stake, studying its surface as it shone in the sunlight. "It broke the ward."  
My mind, still stunned, took a moment to process what he'd said. Then I got it. Wards were magic rings cast by Moroi. Like the stakes, they were made using magic from all four of the elements. They required strong Moroi magic-users, often a couple for each element. The wards could block Strigoi because magic was charged with life, and the Strigoi had none. But wards faded quickly and took a lot of maintenance. Most Moroi didn't use them, but certain places kept them up. St. Vladimir's Academy was ringed with several.  
There had been a ward here, but it had been shattered when someone drove the stake through it. Their magic conflicted with each other; the stake had won.  
"Strigoi can't touch stakes," I told him. I realized I was using a lot of can't and don't statements. It wasn't easy having your core beliefs challenged. "And no Moroi or dhampir would do it."  
"A human might."  
I met his eyes. "Humans don't help Strigoi" I stopped. There it was again. Don't. But I couldn't help it. The one thing we could count on in the fight against Strigoi was their limitations sunlight, ward, stake magic, etc. We used their weaknesses against them. If they had others humans who would help them and weren't affected by those limitations ...  
Dimitri's face was stern, still ready for anything, but the tiniest spark of sympathy flashed in his dark eyes as he watched me wage my mental battle.  
"This changes everything, doesn't it?" I asked.  
"Yeah," he said. "It does."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise's POV

I returned to school ahead of Dimitri and Rose, my hands were shaking so hard that I had to grip the steering wheel on the way home. After five hours I got out of the car and walked into the commons where Mason came up to me quickly and ushered me out of the room, "What happened, we just saw a ton of Guardians leaving earlier." I just collapsed into his arms, "Apparently this incident is going to screw up the holidays. We're probably going away somewhere. Are you alright?" I nodded and he helped me walk to the Novices dorms and into his. Mason and I had always been close and tonight I knew I would be staying in his room. He wrapped his arms around me, "You're my bestfriend, Mas. Don't ever leave me." I said into his shoulder, "I promise, I promise I won't." he said kissing the top of my head. I slept on his bed that night with him on the floor next to me. But when I woke in the morning he had come up onto the bed and snuggled up next to me. He was still sleeping peacefully and I stroked his face, "I love you." I slowly got up and walked to my room before heading toward the gym for my early morning run around the track. Dimitri was there to train Rose for their early morning trainings. I put my headphones in and began to run.

Rose's POV

"Hath-away, don't run-away," a singsong voice called.  
I glanced behind me and grinned. Mason Ashford, another novice and a good friend of mine, jogged up and fell in step with me.  
"What are you, twelve?" I asked, continuing on toward the gym.  
"Nearly," he said. "I missed your smiling face yesterday. Where were you?"  
Apparently my presence at the Badica house still wasn't widely known. It wasn't a secret or anything, but I didn't want to discuss any gory details. "Had a training thing with Dimitri."  
"God," muttered Mason. "That guy is always working you. Doesn't he realize he's depriving us of your beauty and charm?"  
"Smiling face? Beauty and charm? You're laying it on a little thick this morning, aren't you?" I laughed.  
"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. Really, you're lucky to have someone as suave and brilliant as me paying this much attention to you."  
I kept grinning. Mason was a huge flirt, and he liked to flirt with me in particular. Part of it was just because I was good at it and liked to flirt back. But I knew his feelings toward me were more than just friendly, and I was still deciding how I felt about that. He and I had the same goofy sense of humour and frequently drew attention to ourselves in class and among friends. He had gorgeous blue eyes and messy red hair that never seemed to lie flat. It was cute.  
But dating someone new was going to be kind of difficult when I still kept thinking about the time I was half-naked in bed with Dimitri.  
"Suave and brilliant, huh?" I shook my head. "I don't think you pay nearly as much attention to me as you do your ego. Someone needs to knock it down a little."  
"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Well, you can try your best on the slopes."  
I stopped walking. "The what?"  
"The slopes." He tilted his head. "You know, the ski trip."  
"What ski trip?" I was apparently missing something serious here.  
"Where have you been this morning?" he asked, looking at me like I was a crazy woman.  
"In bed! I only got up, like, five minutes ago. Now, start from the beginning and tell me what you're talking about." I shivered from the lack of movement. "And let's keep walking." We did.  
"So, you know how everyone's afraid to have their kids come home for Christmas? Well, there's this huge ski lodge in Idaho that's exclusively used by royals and rich Moroi. The people who own it are opening it up for Academy students and their families¡ªand actually any other Moroi who want to go. With everyone in one spot, they're going to have a ton of guardians to protect the place, so it'll be totally safe."  
"You can't be serious," I said. We reached the gym and stepped inside out of the cold.  
Mason nodded eagerly. "It's true. The place is supposed to be amazing." He gave me the grin that always made me smile in return. "We're going to live like royalty, Rose. At least for a week or so. We take off the day after Christmas."  
I stood there, both excited and stunned. I hadn't seen this coming. It really was a brilliant idea, one that let families reunite safely. And what a reunion spot! A royal ski lodge. I'd expected to spend most of my holiday break hanging out here and watching TV with Lissa and Christian. Now I'd be living it up in five-star accommodations. Lobster dinners. Massages. Cute ski instructors ...  
Mason's enthusiasm was contagious. I could feel it welling up in me, and then, suddenly, it slammed to a halt.  
Studying my face, he saw the change right away. "What's wrong? This is cool."  
"It is," I admitted. "And I get why everyone's excited, but the reason we're getting to go to this fancy place is because, well, because people are dead. I mean, doesn't this all seem weird?"  
Mason's cheery expression sobered a little. "Yeah, but we're alive, Rose. We can't stop living because other people are dead. And we have to make sure more people don't die. That's why this place is such a great idea. It's safe. I gave this exact talk to Elli last night. Did you know she was at the Badica's house yesterday?" His eyes turned stormy. "God, I can't wait until we're out of here in the field. After hearing about what happened, I just want to go tear apart some Strigoi. I wish we could go now, you know? There's no reason. They could use the extra help, and we pretty much know everything we need to."  
The fierceness in his voice reminded me of my outburst yesterday, though he wasn't quite as worked up as I'd been. His eagerness to act was impetuous and naive, whereas mine had been born out of some weird, dark irrationality I still didn't entirely understand.  
When I didn't respond, Mason gave me a puzzled look. "Don't you want to?"  
"I don't know, Mase." I stared down at the floor, avoiding his eyes as I studied the toe of my shoe. "I mean, I don't want Strigoi out there, attacking people either. And I want to stop them in theory... but, well, we aren't even close to being ready. I've seen what they can do I don't know. Rushing in isn't the answer." I shook my head and looked back up. Good grief. I sounded so logical and cautious. I sounded like Dimitri. "It's not important since it's not going to happen anyway. I suppose we should just be excited about the trip, huh?"  
Mason's moods were quick to change, and he turned easy going once more. "Yup. And you'd better try to remember how to ski, because I'm calling you out on knocking down my ego out there. Not that it's going to happen."  
I smiled again. "Boy, it sure is going to be sad when I make you cry. I kind of feel guilty already."  
He opened his mouth, no doubt to deliver some smartass reply, and then caught sight of something or rather, someone behind me. I glanced over and saw Dimitri's tall form approaching from the other side of the gym.  
Mason swept me a gallant bow. "Your lord and master. Catch you later, Hathaway. Start planning your ski strategies." He opened the door and disappeared into the frigid darkness. I turned around and joined Dimitri. Like other dhampir novices, I spent half of my school day on one form or another of guardian training, be it actual physical combat or learning about Strigoi and how to defend against them. Novices also sometimes had practices after school. I, however, was in a unique situation.  
I still stood by my decision to run away from St. Vladimir's. Victor Dashkov had posed too much of a threat to Lissa. But our extended vacation had come with consequences. Being away for two years had put me behind in my guardian classes, so the school had declared that I had to make up for it by going to extra practices before and after school.  
With Dimitri.  
Little did they know that they were also giving me lessons in avoiding temptation. But my attraction to him aside, I was a fast learner, and with his help, I had almost caught up to the other seniors.  
Since he wasn't wearing a coat, I knew we'd be working inside today, which was good news. It was freezing out. Yet even the happiness I felt over that was nothing compared to what I felt when I saw what exactly he had set up in one of the training rooms.  
There were practice dummies arranged on the far wall, dummies that looked amazingly lifelike. No straw-stuffed burlap bags here. There were men and women, wearing ordinary clothes, with rubbery skin and different hair and eye colours. Their expressions ranged from happy to scared to angry. I'd worked with these dummies before in other trainings, using them to practice kicks and punches. But I'd never worked with them while holding what Dimitri held: a silver stake.  
"Sweet," I breathed. "Hold on a sec." He said walking towards the door that lead to outside, "Get in here! Damnit. Hold on Rose." He jogged out and jogged back in a few seconds later. "Okay." He showed me the stake again.  
It was identical to the one I'd found at the Badica house. It had a hand grip at the bottom, almost like a hilt without the little side flourishes. That was where its resemblance to a dagger ended. Rather than a flat blade, the stake had a thick, rounded body that narrowed to a point, kind of like an ice pick. The entire thing was a little shorter than my forearm.  
Dimitri leaned casually against the wall, in an easy stance he always pulled off remarkably well, despite being almost six-seven. With one hand, he tossed the stake into the air. It spun around in a cartwheel a couple of times and then came down. He caught it hilt first.  
"Please tell me I get to learn how to do that today," I said.  
Amusement flashed in the dark depths of his eyes. I think he had a hard time keeping a straight face around me sometimes.  
"You'll be lucky if I let you hold it today," he said. He flipped the stake into the air again. My eyes followed it longingly. I started to point out that I had already held one, but I knew that line of logic would get me nowhere.  
Instead, I tossed my backpack on the floor, threw off my coat, and crossed my arms expectantly. I had on loose pants tied at the waist and a tank top with a hoodie over it. My dark hair was pulled brutally back into a ponytail. I was ready for anything.  
"You want me to tell you how they work and why I should always be cautious around them," I announced.  
Dimitri stopped flipping the stake and stared at me in astonishment.  
"Come on," I laughed. "You don't think I know how you work by now? We've been doing this for almost three months. You always make me talk safety and responsibility before I can do anything fun."  
"I see," he said. "Well, I guess you've got it all figured out. By all means, go on with the lesson. I'll just wait over here until you need me again."  
He tucked the stake into a leather sheath hanging from his belt and then made himself comfortable against the wall, hands stuffed in pockets. I waited, figuring he was joking, but when he said nothing else, I realized he'd meant his words. With a shrug, I launched into what I knew.  
"Silver always has powerful effects on any magical creature¡ªit can help or hurt them if you put enough power into it. These stakes are really hard-core because it takes four different Moroi to make them, and they use each of the elements during the forging." I frowned, suddenly considering something. "Well, except spirit. So these things are supercharged and are about the only non-decapitating weapon that can do damage to a Strigoi¡ªbut to kill them, it has to be through the heart."  
"Will they hurt you?"  
I shook my head. "No. I mean, well, yeah, if you drive one through my heart it will, but it won't hurt me like it would a Moroi. Scratch one of them with this, and it'll hit them pretty hard but not as hard as it'd hit a Strigoi. And they won't hurt humans, either."  
I stopped for a moment and stared absentmindedly at the window behind Dimitri. Frost covered the glass in sparkling, crystalline patterns, but I hardly noticed. Mentioning humans and stakes had transported me back to the Badica house. Blood and death flashed through my thoughts.  
Seeing Dimitri watching me, I shook off the memories and kept going with the lesson. Dimitri would occasionally give a nod or ask a clarifying question. As the time ticked down, I kept expecting him to tell me I was finished and could start hacking up the dummies. Instead, he waited until almost ten minutes before the end of our session before leading me over to one of them¡ªit was a man with blond hair and a goatee. Dimitri took the stake out from its sheath but didn't hand it to me.  
"Where are you going to put this?" he asked.  
"In the heart," I replied irritably. "I already told you that like a hundred times. Can I have it now?"  
He allowed himself a smile. "Where's the heart?"  
I gave him an are-you-serious look. He merely shrugged.  
With overdramatic emphasis, I pointed to the left side of the dummy's chest. Dimitri shook his head.  
"That's not where the heart is," he told me.  
"Sure it is. People put their hands over their hearts when they say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem."  
He continued to stare at me expectantly.  
I turned back to the dummy and studied it. In the back of my brain, I remembered learning CPR and where we had to place our hands. I tapped the center of the dummy's chest.  
"Is it here?"  
He arched an eyebrow. Normally I thought that was cool. Today it was just annoying. "I don't know," he said. "Is it?"  
"That's what I'm asking you!"  
"You shouldn't have to ask me. Don't you all have to take physiology?"  
"Yeah. Junior year. I was on 'vacation,' remember?" I pointed to the gleaming stake. "Can I please touch it now?"  
He flipped the stake again, letting it flash in the light, and then it disappeared in the sheath. "I want you to tell me where the heart is the next time we meet. Exactly where. And I want to know what's in the way of it too."  
I gave him my fiercest glare, which judging from his expression must not have been that fierce. Nine out of ten times, I thought Dimitri was the sexiest thing walking the earth. Then, there were times like this. "You would let Eloise do it." A hand suddenly flashed out from next to me and did a weird mauver driving a stake into the dummy's heart. "There, that's where the heart is. And I don't need him to give me a stake." She flashed me her personalized stake which had her name engraved into it and swirls going all around it. She grinned, sweat dripping from her nose and walked into the showers.  
I headed off to first period, a combat class, in a bad mood. I didn't like looking incompetent in front of Dimitri and Eloise, and I'd really, really wanted to use one of those stakes. So in class I took out my annoyance on anyone I could punch or kick. By the end of class, no one wanted to spar with me. I'd accidentally hit Meredith one of the few other girls in my class so hard that she'd felt it through her shin padding. She was going to have an ugly bruise and kept looking at me as though I'd done it on purpose. I apologized to no avail.  
Afterward, Mason found me once again. "Oh, man," he said, studying my face. "Who pissed you off?"  
I immediately launched into my tale of silver stake and heart woes.  
To my annoyance, he laughed. "How do you not know where the heart is? Especially considering how many of them you've broken?"  
I gave him the same ferocious look I'd given Dimitri. This time, it worked. Mason's face paled.  
"Belikov is a sick, evil man who should be thrown into a pit of rabid vipers for the great offense he committed against you this morning."  
"Thank you." I said primly. Then, I considered. "Can vipers be rabid?"  
"I don't see why not. Everything can be. I think." He held the hallway door open for me. "Canadian geese might be worse than vipers, though."  
I gave him a sidelong look. "Canadian geese are deadlier than vipers?"  
"You ever tried to feed those little bastards?" he asked, attempting seriousness and failing. "They're vicious. You get thrown to vipers, you die quickly. But the geese? That'll go on for days. More suffering." I heard a bell like laugh as Eloise walked past us and pecked his arm like a duck would.  
"Wow. I don't know whether I should be impressed or frightened that you've thought about all this," I remarked. As he watched Eloise jog quickly towards class.  
"Just trying to find creative ways to avenge your honour, that's all."  
"You just never struck me as the creative type, Mase."  
We stood just outside our second-period classroom. Mason's expression was still light and joking, but there was a suggestive note in his voice when he spoke again. "Rose, when I'm around you, I think of all sorts of creative things to do."  
I was still giggling about the vipers and abruptly stopped, staring at him in surprise. I'd always thought Mason was cute, but with that serious, smoky look in his eyes, it suddenly occurred to me for the first time that he was actually kind of sexy.  
"Oh, look at that," he laughed, noticing how much he'd caught me off guard. "Rose gets rendered speechless. Ashford 1, Hathaway 0."  
"Hey, I don't want to make you cry before the trip. It won't be any fun if I've already broken you before we even hit the slopes."  
He laughed, and we stepped into the room. This was a class on bodyguard theory, one that took place in an actual classroom instead of the practice field. It was a nice break from all the physical exertion. Today, there were three guardians and one of us standing at the front who weren't from the school's regiment. Holiday visitors, I realized. Parents and their guardians had already started coming to campus to accompany their children to the ski resort. My interest was piqued immediately.  
One of the guests was a tall guy who looked like he was about a hundred years old but could still kick major ass. The other guy was about Dimitri's age. He had deeply tanned skin and was built well enough that a few of the girls in class looked ready to swoon. Eloise stood next to him slightly smiling at us.  
The last guardian was a woman. Her auburn hair was cropped and curly, and her brown eyes were currently narrowed in thought. As I've said, a lot of dhampir women choose to have children rather than follow the guardian path. Since I too was one of the few women in this profession, I was always excited to meet others like Tamara.  
Only, this wasn't Tamara. This was someone I'd known for years, someone who triggered anything but pride and excitement. Instead, I felt resentment. Resentment, anger, and burning outrage.  
The woman standing in front of the class was my mother.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise POV

I saw Rose glaring at her mother as I stood up front with the Guardians, Stan was talking about how we would talk about our real life experiences. The old guy went first, and talked about how he and his partner were at a restaurant and how he lost the son of a royal and them having to find him in an area where Strigoi were known to be. It ended happily with them finding the boy and now encounters with Strigoi. The young guy next to me talked about how he had save a Moroi that was being stalked by a Strigoi. And then it was my turn. "I'm not even a full Guardian yet and I have already had my first kill. As you all know, I killed Natalie Dashkov earlier this year. I had to kill my best friend. And one thing I learnt, you cannot hesitate. Even young Strigoi are strong as I learnt quickly." I said sweeping my hair up to show them a scar running along the hairline, "One day you might be fighting up against someone you once trained alongside, or even shared a room with. But we can't hesitate because we have a duty to perform." Then Janie talked about how they she had to guard a family that went to a ball and how it wasn't easy because there was so many people and there was an attack. She then talked about how they tracked the Strigoi and killed them all, Janie described how she doused one in gasoline and set him alight. I flinched when she said that, reminding me too much of my own first kills. Rose got sent out for her 'attitude' and her mum followed her. I got asked more questions on Natalie and then Mason came up to me, "You flinched when Guardian Hathaway said she set one alight. Why?" I shook my head and turned around but he grasped my arm. Pulling me back to him he pushed my hair almost lovingly over my shoulder revealing my neck, and the four marks residing on it. "You've killed before?" I nodded, "Three when I was fourteen. They killed my mum and dad. I set them on fire with alcohol. They burned to death." He stroked the marks with a gentle finger, "Why didn't you tell me?" I turned and looked at him, "I didn't want to remember it." He nodded and let me go.

I was walking down the corridor when I heard someone yell out my name, Christian came running at me, grabbed my arm and continued running. "I am so not in the mood." He laughed and we kept running until we reached the forest, "Close your eyes." I grumbled but did what I was told and he led me through the forest, "okay open." I opened to see a small frozen pond with someone I hadn't seen in years, "Aunt Tasha!" I said springing into her arms. She hugged me tightly and I smiled into her hair. She wasn't my actual family but I grew up around her. She squeezed me then drew me to arm length, "Gosh you got pretty" I smiled and hugged her again. She handed me some skates and I pulled my gloves on before joining her, Christian and Lissa on the pond. Soon enough Dimitri brought Rose around.

Rose's POV

She extended her gloved hand to me. "Tasha Ozera," she said. "I've heard a lot about you, Rose."  
I gave Christian a dangerous look, and Tasha laughed.  
"Don't worry," she said. "It was all good."  
"No, it wasn't," he countered.  
She shook her head in exasperation. "Honestly, I don't know where he got such horrible social skills. He didn't learn them from me. Must have been hanging around Eloise for too long."  
"What are you guys doing out here?" I asked.  
"I wanted to spend some time with these two." A small frown wrinkled her forehead. "But I don't really like hanging around the school itself. They aren't always hospitable..."  
I didn't get that at first. School officials usually fell all over themselves when royals came to visit. Then I figured it out."Because ... because of what happened ..."  
Considering the way everyone treated Christian because of his parents, I shouldn't have been surprised to find his aunt facing the same discrimination.  
Tasha shrugged. "That's the way it is." She rubbed her hands together and exhaled, her breath making a frosty cloud in the air. "But let's not stand out here, not when we can build a fire inside."  
I gave a last, wistful glance at the frozen pond and then followed the others inside. The cabin was pretty bare, covered in layers of dust and dirt. It consisted of only one room. There was a narrow bed with no covers in the corner and a few shelves where food had probably once been stored. There was a fireplace, however, and we soon had a blaze going that warmed the small area. The five of us sat down, huddling around its heat, and Tasha produced a bag of marshmallows that we cooked over the flames.  
As we feasted on that gooey goodness, Lissa and Christian talked to each other in that easy, comfortable way they always had. To my surprise, Tasha and Dimitri also talked in a familiar and light way. They obviously knew each other from way back when. I'd actually never seen him so animated before. Even when affectionate with me, there'd always been a serious air about him. With Tasha, he bantered and laughed.  
The more I listened to her, the more I liked her. Finally, unable to stay out of the conversation, I asked, "So are you coming on the ski trip?"  
She nodded. Stifling a yawn, she stretched herself out like a cat. "I haven't been skiing in ages. No time. Been saving all my vacation for this."  
"Vacation?" I gave her a curious look. "Do you have...a job?"  
"Sadly, yes," Tasha said, though she didn't actually sound very sad about it. "I teach martial arts classes."  
I stared in astonishment. I couldn't have been more surprised if she'd said she was an astronaut or a telephone psychic.  
"What do you think, Rose?" Christian seemed highly amused by my surprise. "Think you could take her?"  
"Hard to say," I said.  
Tasha crooked me a grin. "You're being modest. I've seen what you guys can do. This is just a hobby I picked up."  
Dimitri chuckled. "Now you're being modest. You could teach half the classes around here."  
"Not likely," she said. "It'd be pretty embarrassing to be beaten up by a bunch of teenagers."  
"I don't think that'd happen," he said. "I seem to remember you doing some damage to Neil Szelsky."  
Tasha rolled her eyes. "Throwing my drink in his face wasn't actually damage¡ªunless you consider the damage it did to his suit. And we all know how he is about his clothes."  
They both laughed at some private joke the rest of us weren't in on, but I was only half-listening. I was still intrigued about her role with the Strigoi.  
The self-control I'd tried to maintain finally slipped. "Did you start learning to fight before or after that happened to your face?"  
"Rose!" hissed Lissa.  
But Tasha didn't seem upset. Neither did Christian, and he usually grew uncomfortable when the attack with his parents was brought up. She regarded me with a level, thoughtful look. It reminded me of the one I sometimes got from Dimitri if I did something surprising that he approved of.  
"After," she said. She didn't lower her gaze or look embarrassed, though I sensed sadness in her. "How much do you know?"  
I glanced at Christian. "The basics."  
She nodded. "I knew ... I knew what Lucas and Moira had become, but that still didn't prepare me. Mentally, physically, or emotionally. I think if I had to live through it again, I still wouldn't be ready. But after that night, I looked at myself figuratively and realized how defenceless I was. I'd spent my whole life expecting guardians to protect me and take care of me.  
"And that's not to say the guardians aren't capable. Like I said, you could probably take me in a fight. But they Lucas and Moira cut down our two guardians before we realized what had happened. I stalled them from taking Christian but just barely. If the others hadn't shown up, I'd be dead, and he'd" She stopped, frowned, and kept going. "I decided that I didn't want to die that way, not without putting up a real fight and doing everything I could to protect myself and those I love. So I learned all sorts of self-defence. And after a while, I didn't really, uh, fit in so well with high society around here. So I moved to Minneapolis and made a living from teaching others." Tasha squeezed Eloise's hand every now and again. Eloise suddenly zoned out before snapping back to reality, "Shit. I'll see you guys later, Alli's being Alli." I watched her go as did Tasha and Dimitri, "Is Alli alright?" They nodded, "She would have asked us to come if she wasn't."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise's POV

The next morning I walked into the gym with a small cut over my eyebrow from where Alli scratched me. I walked into a dark gym and rolled my eyes, "Don't beat the crap out of her Janie." I growled and walked into the gym further. Ten minutes later the lights flicked on, "Shit." Rose said. "He's not here." Janie said. I walked towards Rose and stood slightly next to her. "Be quiet and put these on." She handed Rose some mitts. "I'm umpiring." I growled at the two of them. Rose grunted from a hit. They began talking to each other more like growling at each other when one of them had to take a few steps back I called the other one off for a quick break.  
"How'd it happen?" Rose asked. "Were you on some assignment in Turkey? Meet him at a local bazaar? Or was it even cheaper than that? Did you go all Darwin and select the guy most likely to pass on warrior genes to your offspring? I mean, I know you only had me because it was your duty, so I suppose you had to make sure you could give the guardians the best specimen you could."  
"Rosemarie," she warned through gritted teeth, "for once in your life, shut up."  
"Why? Am I tarnishing your precious reputation? It's just like you told me: you aren't any different from any other dhampir either. You just screwed him and"  
"Pride goeth before a fall." Rose said not paying attention to her feet and Janie took advantage and hit her above the rules. "Enough!" I yelled. I ran over to Rose and found her out cold, "You're a bitch Janie Hathaway." She glared at me but helped me get Rose to the clinic. "I've got to go." I said. Mason found me later on and hugged me tight, "Heard about Janie and Rose. Why'd ya let it happen?" I rolled my eyes, "Their Hathaway's they do what they want." He laughed and we began walking to our next class where Eddie joined us.

A couple of days later I was walking into the gym when Dimitri came storming past me, "Why hello to you to." I walked in to see Rose touching her lips, "You kissed?" She snapped her head at me and nodded, "You love each other?" She nodded again and began to take in deep breaths, "It's alright, Rose. It will work out and I promise I won't tell anyone." She smiled and nodded linking arms we walked to next period.

Rose's POV

I DIDN'T SEE DIMITRI FOR a while after that. He'd sent a message later that day saying that he thought we should cancel our next two sessions because of the rapidly approaching plans to leave campus. Classes were about to end anyway, he said; taking a break from practice seemed like the reasonable thing.  
It was a lame excuse, and I knew that wasn't the reason he was canceling. If he wanted to avoid me, I would have preferred he made up something about how he and the other guardians had to up Moroi security or practice top-secret ninja moves.  
Regardless of his story, I knew he was avoiding me because of the kiss. That damned kiss. I didn't regret it, not exactly. God only knew how much I'd been wanting to kiss him. But I'd done it for the wrong reasons. I'd done it because I was upset and frustrated and had simply wanted to prove that I could. I was so tired of doing the right thing, the smart thing. I was trying to be more in control lately, but I seemed to be slipping.  
I hadn't forgotten the warning that he'd once given me- that us being together wasn't just about age. It would interfere with our jobs. Pushing him into the kiss...well, I'd fanned the flames of a problem that could eventually hurt Lissa. I shouldn't have done it. Yesterday, I'd been unable to stop myself. Today I could see more clearly and couldn't believe what I'd done.  
Mason and Eloise met me on Christmas morning, and we went to go hang out with the others. It provided a good opportunity to push Dimitri out of my head. I liked Mason- a lot. And it wasn't like I had to run off and marry him. Like Lissa had said, it would be healthy for me to just date someone again.

Tasha was hosting our Christmas brunch in an elegant parlour in the Academy's guest quarters. Lots of group activities and parties were occurring throughout the school, but I'd quickly noticed that Tasha's presence always created a disturbance. People either secretly stared or went out of their way to avoid her. Sometimes she would challenge them. Sometimes she would just lie low. Today, she'd chosen to stay out of the other royals' way and simply enjoy this small, private party of those who didn't shun her.

Dimitri had been invited to the gathering, and a bit of my resolve faltered when I saw him. He'd actually dressed up for the occasion. Okay, "dressed up" might have been an exaggeration, but it was the closest I'd ever seen him come to that. Usually he just looked a little rough...like he could spring into battle at any given moment. Today, his dark hair was tied at the back of his neck, as though he'd actually tried to make it neat. He wore his usual jeans and leather boots, but instead of a T-shirt or thermal shirt, he had on a finely knit black sweater. It was just an ordinary sweater, nothing designer or expensive, but it added a touch of polish I didn't usually see, and good God, did it fit him well.

Dimitri wasn't mean to me or anything, but he certainly didn't go out of his way to make conversation with me. He did talk to Tasha, however, and I watched with fascination as they conversed in that easy way of theirs. I'd since learned that a good friend of his was a distant cousin of Tasha's family; that was how the two of them knew each other.

"Five?" asked Dimitri in surprise. They were discussing the friend's children. "I hadn't heard that."  
Tasha nodded. "It's insane. I swear, I don't think his wife's had more than six months off between kids. She's short, too- so she just gets wider and wider."  
"When I first met him, he swore he didn't even want kids."  
Her eyes widened excitedly. "I know! I can't believe it. You should see him now. He just melts around them. I can't even understand him half the time. I swear, he speaks more baby talk than English."  
Dimitri smiled his rare smile. "Well...children do that to people."  
"I can't imagine it happening to you," she laughed. "You're always so stoic. Of course ... I suppose you'd be doing baby talk in Russian, so no one would ever know."  
They both laughed at that, and I turned away, grateful Mason was there to talk to. He was a good distraction from everything, because in addition to Dimitri ignoring me, Lissa and Christian were chatting on in their own little world too. Sex appeared to have made them that much more in love, and I wondered if I'd get to spend any time with her at all on the ski trip. She did eventually break away from him to give me my Christmas present.  
I opened the box and stared inside. I saw a string of maroon-colored beads, and the scent of roses floated out.  
"What the ..."  
I lifted the beads out, and a heavy gold crucifix swung from the end of them. She'd given me a chotki. It was similar to a rosary, only smaller. Bracelet-size.  
"Are you trying to convert me?" I asked wryly. Lissa wasn't a religious nut or anything, but she believed in God and attended church regularly. Like many Moroi families who'd come from Russia and Eastern Europe, she was an Orthodox Christian.  
Me? I was pretty much an Orthodox Agnostic. I figured God probably existed, but I didn't have the time or energy to investigate. Lissa respected that and never tried to push her faith on me, which made the gift that much weirder.  
"Flip it over," she said, clearly amused at my shock.  
I did. On the back of the cross, a dragon wreathed in flowers had been carved into the gold. The Dragomir crest. I looked up at her, puzzled.  
"It's a family heirloom," she said. "One of my dad's good friends has been saving boxes of his stuff. This was in it. It belonged to my great-grandmother's guardian."  
"Liss ..." I said. The chotki took on a whole new meaning. "I can't... you can't give me something like this."  
"Well, I certainly can't keep it. It's meant for a guardian. My guardian."  
I wound the beads around one wrist. The cross felt cool against my skin.  
"You know," I teased, "there's a good possibility I'll get kicked out of school before I can become your guardian."  
She grinned. "Well, then you can give it back."  
Everyone laughed. Tasha started to say something, then stopped when she looked up at the door.  
"Janine!" My mother stood there, looking as stiff and impassive as ever.  
"Sorry I'm late," she said. "I had business to take care of."  
Business. As always. Even on Christmas.  
I felt my stomach turn and heat rise to my cheeks as the details of our fight came rushing back to my mind. She'd never sent one word of communication since it had happened two days ago, not even when I was in the infirmary. No apologies. Nothing. I gritted my teeth.  
She sat down with us and soon joined in the conversation. I'd long since discovered she could really only talk about one subject: guardian business. I wondered if she had any hobbies. The Badica attack was on everyone's mind, and this drove her into a conversation about some similar fight she'd been in. To my horror, Mason was riveted by her every word.

"Well, decapitations aren't as easy as they seem," she said in her matter-of-fact way. I'd never thought they were easy at all, but her tone suggested that she believed everyone thought they were cake. "You've got to get through the spinal cord and tendons."  
Through the bond, I felt Lissa grow queasy. She wasn't one for gruesome talk.  
Mason's eyes lit up. "What's the best weapon to do it with?"  
My mother considered. "An axe. You can get more weight behind it." She made a swinging motion by way of illustration.  
"Cool," he said. "Man, I hope they let me carry an axe." It was a comical and ludicrous idea, since axes were hardly convenient weapons to carry around. For half a second, the thought of Mason walking down the street with an axe over his shoulder lightened my mood a little. The moment quickly passed. Eloise entered the room, "Sorry I'm late, I was with Alli." Her blonde hair fell in ringlets around her face, she wore a simple blue dress but it made her look beautiful. She took her seat next to Mason who was gaping at her. They went back to the previous conversation.  
I honestly couldn't believe we were having this conversation on Christmas. Her presence had soured everything. Fortunately, the gathering eventually dispersed. Christian and Lissa went off to do their own thing, and Dimitri and Tasha apparently had more catching up to do. Mason, Eloise and I were well on our way to the dhampir dorm when my mother joined us.  
None of us said anything. Stars cluttered the black sky, sharp and bright, their glitter matched in the ice and snow around us. I wore my ivory parka with fake fur trimming. It did a good job keeping my body warm, even though it did nothing against the chilly gusts that seared my face. The whole time we walked, I kept expecting my mother to turn off toward the other guardian areas, but she came right inside the dorm with us.  
"I've been wanting to talk to you," she finally said. My alarms clicked on. What had I done now?  
That was all she said, but Mason picked up on the hint immediately and grabbed Eloise hand before walking back outside. He was neither stupid nor oblivious to social cues, though at that moment, I kind of wished he was. I also found it ironic that he wanted to fight every Strigoi in the world but was afraid of my mother.  
I watched with regret as he left, wishing I could run after him. Probably my mom would only tackle me and punch my other eye if I tried to escape. Better to do things her way and get this over with. Shifting uncomfortably, I looked everywhere but at her and waited for her to speak. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a few people glancing over at us. Recalling how everyone in the world seemed to know about her giving me the black eye, I suddenly decided I didn't want witnesses around for whatever lecture she was about to unleash on me.  
"You want to, um, go to my room?" I asked.  
She looked surprised, almost uncertain. "Sure."  
I led her upstairs, keeping a safe distance away as we walked. Awkward tension built between us. She didn't say anything when we reached my room, but I saw her examine every detail carefully, as though a Strigoi might be lurking in there. I sat on the bed and waited while she paced, unsure what I should do. She ran her fingers over a stack of books on animal behavior and evolution.  
"Are these for a report?" she asked.  
"No. I'm just interested in it, that's all."  
Her eyebrows rose. She hadn't known that. But how would she? She didn't know anything about me. She continued her appraisal, stopping to study little things that apparently surprised her about me. A picture of Lissa and me dressed up like fairies for Halloween. A bag of SweeTarts. It was as though my mother were meeting me for the first time.  
Abruptly, she turned and extended her hand toward me. "Here."  
Startled, I leaned forward and held my palm out underneath hers. Something small and cool dropped into my hand. It was a round pendant, a small one- not much bigger than a dime in diameter. A base of silver held a flat disc of colored glass circles. Frowning, I ran my thumb over its surface. It was strange, but the circles almost made it look like an eye. The inner one was small, just like a pupil. It was so dark blue that it looked black. Surrounding it was a larger circle of pale blue, which was in turn surrounded by a circle of white. A very, very thin ring of that dark blue color circled the outside.  
"Thanks," I said. I hadn't expected anything from her. The gift was weird- why the hell would she give me an eye?- but it was a gift. "I... I didn't get you anything."  
My mom nodded, face blank and unconcerned once more. "It's fine. I don't need anything."  
She turned away again and started walking around the room. She didn't have a lot of space to do it, but her shorter height gave her a smaller stride. Each time she passed in front of the window over my bed, the light would catch her auburn hair and light it up. I watched her curiously and realized she was as nervous as me.  
She halted in her pacing and glanced back toward me. "How's your eye?"  
"Getting better."  
"Good." She opened her mouth, and I had a feeling she was on the verge of apologizing. But she didn't.  
When she started pacing again, I decided I couldn't stand the inactivity. I began putting my presents away. I'd gotten a pretty nice haul of stuff this morning. One of them was a silk dress from Tasha, red and embroidered with flowers. And another thing was from Eloise who had gotten me a ring with a ruby on it. My mother watched me hang the dress in the room's tiny closet.  
"That was very nice of Tasha."  
"Yeah," I agreed. "I didn't know she was going to get me anything. I really like her."  
"Me too."  
I turned from the closet in surprise and stared at my mom. Her astonishment mirrored mine. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have said we'd just agreed on something. Maybe Christmas miracles did happen.  
"Guardian Belikov will be a good match for her."  
"I- " I blinked, not entirely sure what she was talking about. "Dimitri?"  
"Guardian Belikov," she corrected sternly, still not approving of my casual way of addressing him.  
"What... what kind of match?" I asked.  
She raised an eyebrow. "You haven't heard? She's asked him to be her guardian- since she doesn't have one."  
I felt like I'd been punched again. "But he's...assigned here. And to Lissa."  
"Arrangements can be made. And regardless of the Ozera reputation...she's still royal. If she pushes, she can get her way."  
I stared bleakly into space. "Well, I guess they are friends and everything."  
"More than that- or possibly could be."  
Bam! Punched again.  
"What?"  
"Hmm? Oh. She's...interested in him." By my mother's tone, it was clear that romantic matters actually held no interest for her. "She's willing to have dhampir children, so it's possible they might eventually make an, um, arrangement if he were her guardian."  
Oh. My. God.  
Time froze.  
My heart stopped beating.  
I realized my mother was waiting for a response. She was leaning against my desk, watching me. She might be able to hunt down Strigoi, but she was oblivious to my feelings.  
"Is ... is he going to do it? Be her guardian?" I asked weakly.  
My mom shrugged. "I don't think he's agreed to it yet, but of course he will. It's a great opportunity."  
"Of course," I echoed. Why would Dimitri turn down the chance to be a guardian to a friend of his and to have a baby?  
I think my mom said something else after that, but I didn't hear it. I didn't hear anything. I kept thinking about Dimitri leaving the Academy, leaving me. I thought about the way he and Tasha had gotten along with each other so well. And then, after those recollections, my imagination started improvising future scenarios. Tasha and Dimitri together. Touching. Kissing. Naked. Other things ...  
I squeezed my eyes shut for half a second and then opened them.  
"I'm really tired."  
My mom stopped mid-sentence. I had no idea what she'd been saying before I interrupted her.  
"I'm really tired," I repeated. I could hear the hollowness in my own voice. Empty. No emotion. "Thanks for the eye...um, thing, but if you don't mind ..."  
My mother stared at me in surprise, her features open and confused. Then, just like that, her usual wall of cool professionalism slammed back into place. Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much she'd let it up. But she had. For just a brief time, she'd made herself vulnerable with me. That vulnerability was now gone.  
"Of course," she said stiffly. "I don't want to bother you."  
I wanted to tell her it wasn't that. I wanted to tell her I wasn't kicking her out for any personal reason. And I wanted to tell her that I wished she were the kind of loving, understanding mother you always hear about, one I could confide in. Maybe even a mother I could discuss my troubled love life with.  
God. I wished I could tell anyone about that, actually. Especially right now.  
But I was too caught up in my own personal drama to say a word. I felt like someone had ripped my heart out and tossed it across the other side of the room. There was a burning, agonizing pain in my chest, and I had no idea how it could ever be filled. It was one thing to accept that I couldn't have Dimitri. It was something entirely different to realize someone else could.  
I didn't say anything else to her because my speech capabilities no longer existed. Fury glinted in her eyes, and her lips flattened out into that tight expression of displeasure she so often wore. Without another word, she turned around and left, slamming the door behind her. That door slam was something I would have done too, actually. I guess we really did share some genes.  
But I forgot about her almost immediately. I just kept sitting there and thinking. Thinking and imagining.  
I spent the rest of the day doing little more than that. I skipped dinner. I shed a few tears. But mostly, I just sat on my bed thinking and growing more and more depressed. I also discovered that the only thing worse than imagining Dimitri and Tasha together was remembering when he and I had been together. He would never touch me again like that, never kiss me again...

This was the worst Christmas ever.

Eloise's POV

Mason dragged me outside and we stood and watched the snow. He had his arm wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I looked at him and then the arm around my shoulder, "What the hell is this?" He looked at me confused, "What's, what?" I grabbed his arm, "This, you hold my hand, wrap your arm around me, whisper in my ear, kiss me on the cheek and let me sleep in your bed when I was sad. And yet you say you like Rose." He stepped back from me, "I do like Rose, I just do those things because you're my friend." I stared at him in disbelief. "Friends? You do that because we're friends? Do you think Eddie does this to me? I'm pretty sure Rose and Lissa don't wrap their arms around my shoulder or hold my hands. Christian sure doesn't do that! You're just leading me on!" I yelled at him, "No I'm not, I like Rose remember? And why are you acting like this?" he said stepping closer. "Damnit Mason!" I grabbed his face and kissed him, "don't you get it? I love you. I've loved you since we were four years old when you stood up for me at preschool. I have loved you through our teenage years, through our fights and friendship I have always loved you!" He looked at me, "I like Rose. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He kissed my cheek and walked away. I let my tears fall and wrapped my arms around myself.

This was the worst Christmas ever.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

The ski trip couldn't have come a moment too soon. I couldn't stop thinking about Christmas night. We left on the private jets on boxing day. I was on a jet with Mason, Lissa, Christian and Rose, as well as Dimitri and Tasha. Rose and I entered the plane together and she went to sit next to Mason. When I looked back at them I saw Rose lacing her fingers through his. I stared straight ahead and when the plane landed I quickly got off and looked at the resort in front of me. It was amazing, built kindda like a log cabin but no ordinary cabin could have held hundreds of people with such luxury. It was three stories of golden wood and sat among lofty pine trees. The doors and windows were tall and arched, tinted for the Moroi's conveniences. It was amazing. I stayed in a room by myself on the ground floor. It was so bloody big with the softest carpet, I had a king-size bed covered in warm duvets and set with so many pillows that I could have suffocate someone with them. French doors opened onto the forest area outside of the lodge.

Mason and Rose kind of had this double date thing going with Lissa and Christian so Eddie and I hung out with some of the other Novices we shared classes with. We spent most of the first day skiing and had lunch with Alli and her friends. I was skiing at night by myself when I saw Rose's ski past me and get down fine. I then watched as a blur went past me and I watched as they couldn't clear a jump, and their legs got caught sending them down. I reached them before Rose or the instructors reached them, I saw his red hair and instantly knew it was Mason. "Mase? What they hell are you doing?" He rolled his eyes at me and I pulled his ski boots off him, "It's just a sprain, no broken bones." He looked at me and smiled, I couldn't help but smile back. "Mason!" Rose's voice yelled. "Bye." I got up and skied away. As I started to put my stuff away a voice called out to me, "Hey, there gorgeous." I spun to see a tall Moroi, a very cute tall Moroi. His brown hair was un-kept in a way that you could tell he styled it that way. His eyes were neither blue or green and he was dressed in money, "Hi yourself." He walked up towards me and helped me with my stuff. "I can manage." He looked down at me, "I can tell but chivalry always goes along way with the ladies. Little dhampir." I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side, "Don't call me that." He nodded and continued helping me. "You smell good." He said, "You smell like alcohol." I said bluntly, he smiled. "You're go to St. Vald's" I nodded, "When you graduate? I need a guardian." I tilted my head, "I've already got someone to protect." He walked around and lifted my hair up, "Ah, Eloise Kosev. I've heard about you." I mentally rolled my eyes, "You're badass. That's sexy." He popped up in front of me again. "Sorry I don't date royal Moroi's, it was nice meeting you though Adrian Ivashkov." I began to walk away, "How did you know my name?" He yelled, "How did you know mine?" I yelled back, swaying my hips a bit I could feel him watching me.

As I pulled on my attire for that day, leggings with a white knit sweater over it and boots, a knock sounded at my door. I opened it to see Eddie and the other guys, "Let me just grab my scarf." I grabbed everything I needed and we headed out towards the trees in the middle of the ski runs. We had resided ourselves in for some of yesterday and every now and then we would see someone we knew and threw a snow ball at them which eventually led to a snow ball fight of our own. It was getting dark and we saw Mason and Rose walking very, very close together. I gathered my snowball and pegged it at the side of his face, whoops and cries came from our side of the forest, "Too slow, Ashford," Eddie called. "Doesn't pay to be in love." We all laughed as we appeared from the tree line. "We'll still take you in, though, if you want to be on our team," I said. "Even if you do dodge like a girl." Eddie added in causing me to elbow him in the stomach. Mason joined Eddie's team and Rose mine. I nailed a really good one on Eddie, "Now who dodges like a girl!" Mason yelled and then I threw one at his face. We were all walking back when I saw Rose stepped forward and kissed Mason. I turned my face away from them and went to grab my ski's, "El, no, it's getting dark." Eddie tried to stop me but I flicked him off and took the chairlift to the top. Only a few people were still on the tracks most of them on their last one. I brushed away my tears and began to speed dangerously down the slope. Halfway down I veered off to much and slammed into some bad ice causing me to roll and hit my head against the base of a tree. It went black.

I opened my eyes probably an hour later staring up at the sky. I was cold and had a headache. But I was heartbroken. It was dark, pitch black in fact, maybe it was more then one hour. I gathered my ski's and began to walk down when I froze. Strigoi. They were close I could feel it. I dumped my stuff and began jogging towards the lodge when they appeared around my side, "Why hello." A male said. I growled, there was seven of them, five left quickly into the building whilst two stayed out with me. "How are you beautiful?" One said sauntering up to me. My arm flashed out and striked him easily, he fell backwards and his friend advanced. We fought, but they had the advantage, two against one. I swiped ones leg out from them and he fell hard but so did I as the other pushed me down. "Just knock her out! We need ya!" Someone whispered into the night, "Fine. Goodnight beautiful." I was out.

When I woke the sun was beginning to rise. Groaning I sat up and rubbed my head, looking around I could hear people moving around inside and knew they had it covered. Walking up the slope to my ski's I picked them up and began the slow painful descent to the garage. "Elli!" I groaned. Mason. "Where were you? We had people out looking for you? There was another Strigoi attack!" I turned and looked at him. Blood had probably caked the side of my face and ran into my sweater, "No shit." He winced and touched the cut above my eyebrow. I side stepped him and made my way to the garage, "El! Please." He yelled, "Go away, Mason." I called back. When I made it inside I bumped into someone, "Hey gorgeous." I looked up and he took a step back, "Youchies what happened?" I rolled my eyes, "You know if you keep doing that they'll get stuck that way." I stumbled and he caught my stuff and myself. "Come on." He lifted me in bridal style and I began to protest but he shushed me, "Get a bit of sleep." I rested my head against his chest and felt a few tears leak onto his shirt.

Rose's POV

Lissa and I were walking to my mum's room when I saw Adrian bursting in there himself. With Eloise in his arms, "What happened?" Someone yelled. Dimitri. "She was muttering about Strigoi and how she had to stop them but she couldn't." I entered the room behind Lissa and saw Janine and Dimitri standing next to Eloise whose head was tucked up in Adrian's chin, "Ms Kosev. Ms Kosev. What happened?" She opened her eyes and glared at my mum. "I was mad, so I went skiing. Fell and hit my head, when I woke up I saw them and went to fight or get help, I can't remember. But it was two to one and I was knocked out. I'm sorry Dimitri, I'm so sorry." He nodded at Adrian and took her into his own arms. "I'm taking her to the first Aid." Lissa and I soon discerned the details. Eight Moroi had been killed along with their five guardians. Three Moroi were missing, either dead or turned Strigoi. The attack hadn't really happened near here; it had been somewhere in northern California. Nonetheless, a tragedy like this couldn't help but reverberate within the Moroi world, and for some, two states away was far too close. People were terrified, and I soon learned what in particular made this attack so notable.  
"There had to be more than last time," said my mother.  
"More?" exclaimed one of the other guardians. "That last group was unheard of. I still can't believe nine Strigoi managed to work together- you expect me to believe they managed to get more organized still?"  
"Yes," snapped my mother.  
"Any evidence of humans?" someone else asked.  
My mother hesitated, then: "Yes. More broken wards. And the way it was all conducted...it's identical to the Badica attack."  
Her voice was hard, but there was a kind of weariness in it, too. It wasn't physical exhaustion, though. It was mental, I realized. Strain and hurt over what they were talking about. I always thought of my mother as some sort of unfeeling killing machine, but this was clearly hard for her. It was a hard, ugly matter to discuss- but at the same time, she was tackling it without hesitation. It was her duty.  
A lump formed in my throat that I quickly swallowed down. Humans. Identical to the Badica attack. Ever since that massacre, we'd extensively analyzed the oddity of such a large group of Strigoi teaming up and recruiting humans. We'd spoken in vague terms about "if something like this ever happens again ..." But no one had seriously talked about this group- the Badica killers- doing it again. One time was a fluke- maybe a bunch of Strigoi had happened to gather and impulsively decided to go on a raid. It was horrible, but we could write that off.  
But now...now it looked as though that group of Strigoi hadn't been a random occurrence. They'd united with purpose, utilized humans strategically, and had attacked again. We now had what could be a pattern: Strigoi actively seeking out large groups of prey. Serial killings. We could no longer trust the protective magic of the wards. We couldn't even trust sunlight. Humans could move around in the day, scouting and sabotaging. The light was no longer safe.  
I remembered what I'd said to Dimitri at the Badica house: This changes everything, doesn't it?  
My mother flipped through some papers on a clipboard. "They don't have forensic details yet, but the same number of Strigoi couldn't have done this. None of the Drozdovs or their staff escaped. With five guardians, seven Strigoi would have been preoccupied- at least temporarily- for some to escape. We're looking at nine or ten, maybe."  
"Janine's right," said Dimitri who just slipped back into the room. "And if you look at the venue...it's too big. Seven couldn't have covered it."  
The Drozdovs were one of the twelve royal families. They were large and prosperous, not like Lissa's dying clan. They had plenty of family members to go around, but obviously, an attack like this was still horrible. Furthermore, something about them tickled my brain. There was something I should remember ... something I should know about the Drozdovs.  
While part of my mind puzzled that out, I watched my mother with fascination. I'd listened to her tell her stories. I'd seen and felt her fight. But really, truly, I'd never seen her in action in a real-life crisis. She showed every bit of that hard control she did around me, but here, I could see how necessary it was. A situation like this created panic. Even among the guardians, I could sense those who were so keyed up that they wanted to do something drastic. My mother was a voice of reason, a reminder that they had to stay focused and fully assess the situation. Her composure calmed everybody; her strong manner inspired them. This, I realized, was how a leader behaved.  
Dimitri was just as collected as she was, but he deferred to her to run things. I had to remind myself sometimes that he was young as far as guardians went. They discussed the attack more, how the Drozdovs had been having a belated Christmas party in a banquet hall when they were attacked.  
"First Badicas, now Drozdovs," muttered one guardian. "They're going after royals."  
"They're going after Moroi," said Dimitri flatly. "Royal. Non-royal. It doesn't matter."  
Royal. Non-royal. I suddenly knew why the Drozdovs were important. My spontaneous instincts wanted me to jump up and ask a question right now, but I knew better. This was the real deal. This was no time for irrational behaviour. I wanted to be as strong as my mother and Dimitri, so I waited for the discussion to end.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise's POV

Once I was released from the clinic at the resort I went straight to find Mia and Alli, I found them on top of the slopes, Mia crying on Alli's shoulder. "Mia, Alli." They looked up at me and Mia fell into my arms sobbing. "I'm not going to lie and say its okay, but take it from someone who knows, it does get better. I promise." She wiped her eyes and we began to walk down the slope, "Welcome to the band of orphans." She smiled and we all linked arms. When we got down there I saw Adrian, "I'll catch up later." I walked up to him as he leant against the lodge's wall near my bedroom. "Hey, gorgeous." He said, "You're looking better." He ran a hand through my hair, "I just wanted to thank you for… you know." He smiled, "Anytime love." I went to walk away but he grabbed my hand, "You coming to the meeting?" I smiled and nodded and let him guide me to the banquet hall. When we got there he kissed my hand and left to sit at the front with the Moroi royals. I took my place with a few other Guardians around the room. Most we're sitting down but it was tradition for some of us to line the walls. The meeting kicked off, "The answer's all around us," said one royal, once he'd been given leave to speak. He stood by his chair and looked around the room. "Here. In places like this lodge. And St. Vladimir's. We send our children to safe places, places where they have safety in numbers and can be easily guarded. And look how many of us made it here, children and adults alike. Why don't we live this way all the time?"  
"Plenty of us already do," someone shouted back.  
The man waved that off. "A couple of families here and there. Or a town with a large Moroi population. But those Moroi are still decentralized. Most don't pool their resources- their guardians, their magic. If we could emulate this model..." He spread his hands out. "... we'd never have to worry about Strigoi again."  
The other theory about how to protect the Moroi involved fewer logistical problems but had greater personal impact  
"The problem is simply that we don't have enough guardians." This plan's advocate was some woman from the Szelsky clan. "And so, the answer is simple: get more. The Drozdovs had five guardians, and that wasn't enough. Only six to protect over a dozen Moroi! That's unacceptable. It's no wonder these kinds of things keep happening." I snorted and everyone looked at me, "And where do you plan getting more guardians from?" I asked.  
She pointed to where Rose and a few other novices sat. "We've got plenty already. I've watched them train. They're deadly. Why are we waiting until they turn eighteen? If we accelerated the training program and focused more on combat training than bookwork, we could turn out new guardians when they're sixteen." I widened my eyes. "No. No way in hell." I growled and Dimitri made a sound low in his throat that didn't seem happy. Leaning forward, he placed his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in his hands, eyes narrowed in thought.  
"Not only that, we have plenty of potential guardians going to waste. Where are all the dhampir women? Our races are intertwined. The Moroi are doing their part to help the dhampirs survive. Why aren't these women doing theirs? Why aren't they here?" I growled deep in my throat and Tasha laughed. Glancing at the moderator, she asked, "May I?"  
He nodded. The Szelsky woman sat down; Tasha stood up. Unlike the other speakers, she strode right up to the podium, so she could be clearly seen by everyone. Her glossy black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, completely exposing her scars in a way I suspected was intentional. Her face was bold and defiant. Beautiful.  
"Those women aren't here, Monica, because they're too busy raising their children- you know, the ones you want to start sending out to the fronts as soon as they can walk. And please don't insult us all by acting like the Moroi do a huge favor to the dhampirs by helping them reproduce. Maybe it's different in your family, but for the rest of us, sex is fun. The Moroi doing it with dhampirs aren't really making that big of a sacrifice." I smirked. Mia and Alli sat further down from Rose, Mason and Dimitri, both pale and red-rimmed eyes.  
"And the reason we're waiting for these guardians to turn eighteen is so that we can allow them to enjoy some pretence of a life before forcing them to spend the rest of their days in constant danger. They need those extra years to develop mentally as well as physically. Pull them out before they're ready, treat them like they're parts on an assembly line- and you're just creating Strigoi fodder."  
A few people gasped at Tasha's callous choice of words, but she succeeded in getting everyone's attention. "You create more fodder still if you try making the other dhampir women become guardians. You can't force them into that life if they don't want it. This entire plan of yours to get more guardians relies on throwing children and the unwilling into harm's way, just so you can- barely- stay one step ahead of the enemy. I would have said it's the stupidest plan I've ever heard, if I hadn't already had to listen to his."  
She pointed at the first speaker, the one who had wanted Moroi compounds. Embarrassment clouded his features.  
"Enlighten us then, Natasha," he said. "Tell us what you think we should do, seeing as you have so much experience with Strigoi."  
A thin smile played on Tasha's lips, but she didn't rise to the insult. "What do I think?" She strode closer to the stage's front, gazing at us as she answered his question. "I think we should stop coming up with plans that involve us relying on someone or something to protect us. You think there are too few guardians? That's not the problem. The problem is there are too many Strigoi. And we've let them multiply and become more powerful because we do nothing about them except have stupid arguments like this. We run and hide behind the dhampirs and let the Strigoi go unchecked. It's our fault. We are the reason those Drozdovs died. You want an army? Well, here we are. Dhampirs aren't the only ones who can learn to fight. The question, Monica, isn't where the dhampir women are in this fight. The question is: Where are we?" Tasha was yelling. Whilst Mia and Alli sat up in their seats and looked amazed by her words.  
Monica Szelsky looked less awed, and she fixed her gaze on Tasha. "Surely you aren't suggesting the Moroi fight alongside the guardians when the Strigoi come?"  
Tasha regarded her levelly. "No. I'm suggesting the Moroi and the guardians go fight the Strigoi before they come."  
A guy in his twenties who looked like a Ralph Lauren spokesmodel shot up. I would have wagered money he was royal. No one else could have afforded blond highlights that perfect. He untied an expensive sweater from around his waist and draped it over the back of his chair. "Oh," he said in a mocking voice, speaking out of turn. "So, you're going to just give us clubs and stakes and send us off to do battle?" Tasha shrugged. "If that's what it takes, Andrew, then sure." A sly smile crossed her pretty lips. "But there are other weapons we can learn to use, too. Ones the guardians can't." I closed my eyes, "Tasha, I know where you're going with this, and I advise you to stop right now."  
No one listened but Mason. Andrew thought she was insane, "Oh yeah? Like what?"  
Her smile turned into a full-fledged grin. "Like this."  
She waved her hand, and the sweater he'd placed on the back of his chair burst into flames.  
He yelped in surprise and knocked it to the floor, stamping it out with his feet.  
There was a brief, collective intake of breath throughout the room. And then ... chaos broke out.

Rose's POV

People stood up and shouted, everyone wanting their opinion to be heard. As it was, most of them held the same view: Tasha was wrong. They told her she was crazy. They told her that in sending out Moroi and dhampirs to fight the Strigoi, she'd be expediting the extinction of both races. They even had the nerve to suggest that that was Tasha's plan all along- that she was somehow collaborating with the Strigoi in all of this. Dimitri stood up, disgust all over his features as he surveyed the chaos. I had my eyes trained on Eloise who stood off to the side flicking her pocket knife in and out. "You might as well leave. Nothing useful's going to happen now."  
Mason and I rose, but he shook his head when I started to follow Dimitri out.  
"You go on," said Mason. "I want to check something out."  
I glanced at the standing, arguing people. I shrugged. "Good luck."  
I couldn't believe it had only been a few days since I'd spoken to Dimitri. Stepping out into the hall with him, I felt like it'd been years. Being with Mason these last couple of days had been fantastic, but seeing Dimitri again, all of my old feelings for him came rushing back. Suddenly, Mason seemed like a child. My distress over the Tasha situation also came back, and stupid words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.  
"Shouldn't you be in there protecting Tasha?" I asked. "Before the mob gets her? She's going to get in big trouble for using magic like that."  
He raised an eyebrow. "She can take care of herself."  
"Yeah, yeah, because she's a badass karate magic user. I get all that. I just figured since you're going to be her guardian and all..."  
"Where did you hear that?"  
"I have my sources." Somehow, saying I'd heard it from my mom sounded less cool. "You've decided to, right? I mean, it sounds like a good deal, seeing as she's going to give you fringe benefits..."  
He gave me a level look. "What happens between her and me is none of your business," he replied crisply. The words between her and me stung. It sounded like he and Tasha were a done deal. And, as often happened when I was hurt, my temper and attitude took over.  
"Well, I'm sure you guys'll be happy together. She's just your type, too- I know how much you like women who aren't your own age. I mean, she's what, six years older than you? Seven? And I'm seven years younger than you."  
"Yes," he said after several moments of silence. "You are. And every second this conversation goes on, you only prove how young you really are."  
Whoa. My jaw almost hit the floor. Not even my mother punching me had hurt as badly as that. For a heartbeat, I thought I saw regret in his eyes, like he too realized just how harsh his words had been. But the moment passed, and his expression was hard once more.  
"Little dhampir," a voice suddenly said nearby.  
Slowly, still stunned, I turned toward Adrian Ivashkov. He grinned at me and gave a brief nod of acknowledgment to Dimitri. I suspected my face was bright red. How much had Adrian heard?  
He held up his hands in a casual gesture. "I don't want to interrupt or anything. Just wanted to talk to you when you have time."  
I wanted to tell Adrian I didn't have time to play whatever game he was into now, but Dimitri's words still smarted. He was looking at Adrian now in a very disapproving way. I suspected he, like everyone else, had heard about Adrian's bad reputation. Good, I thought. I suddenly wanted him to be jealous. I wanted to hurt him as much as he'd hurt me lately.  
Swallowing my pain, I unearthed my man-eating smile, one I hadn't used to full effect in sometime. I walked over to Adrian and put a hand on his arm.  
"I've got time now." I gave a nod of my own to Dimitri and steered Adrian away, walking close to him. "See you later, Guardian Belikov."  
Dimitri's dark eyes followed us stonily. Then I turned away and didn't look back.  
"Not into older guys, huh?" asked Adrian once we were alone.  
"You're imagining things," I said. "Clearly, my stunning beauty has clouded your mind."  
He laughed that nice laugh of his. "That's entirely possible."  
I started to step back, but he tossed an arm around me. "No, no, you wanted to play chummy with me- now you've got to see it through."  
I rolled my eyes at him and let the arm stay. I could smell alcohol on him as well as the perpetual smell of cloves. I wondered if he was drunk now. I had the feeling that there was probably little difference between his attitudes drunk or sober.  
"What do you want?" I asked.  
He studied me for a moment. "I want you to grab Vasilisa and come with me. We're going to have some fun. You'll probably want a swimsuit too." He seemed disappointed by the admission of this. "Unless you want to go naked."  
"What? A bunch of Moroi and dhampirs just got slaughtered, and you want to go swimming and 'have fun'?"  
"It's not just swimming," he said patiently. "Besides, that slaughter is exactly why you should go do this."  
Before I could argue that, I saw my friends round the corner: Lissa, Mason, and Christian. Eddie Castile was with the group, which shouldn't have surprised me, but Mia was as well- which certainly did surprise me and Alli. They were deep in conversation, though they all stopped talking when they saw me.  
"There you are," said Lissa, a puzzled look on her face.  
I remembered Adrian's arm was still around me. I stepped out of it. "Hey, guys," I said. A moment of awkwardness hung around us, and I was pretty sure I heard a low chuckle from Adrian. I beamed at him and then my friends. "Adrian invited us to go swimming."  
They stared at me in surprise, and I could almost see the wheels of speculation turning in their heads. Mason's face darkened a little, but like the others, he said nothing. I stifled a groan.  
Adrian took me inviting the others to his secret interlude pretty well. With his easygoing attitude, I hadn't really expected anything else. Once we had swimsuits, we followed his directions to a doorway in one of the far wings of the lodge. It held a staircase that led down- and down and down. I nearly got dizzy as we wound around and around. Electric lights hung in the walls, but as we went farther, the painted walls changed to carved stone.  
When we reached our destination, we discovered Adrian had been right- it wasn't just swimming. We were in a special spa area of the resort, one used only for the most elite Moroi. In this case, it was reserved for a bunch of royals I assumed were Adrian's friends. There were about thirty others, all his age or older, who bore the marks of wealth and elitism. The spa consisted of a series of hot mineral pools. Maybe once they'd been in a cave or something, but the lodge builders had long since gotten rid of any sort of rustic surroundings. The black stone walls and ceiling were as polished and beautiful as anything else in the resort. It was like being in a cave- a really nice, designer cave. Racks of towels lined the walls, as did tables full of exotic food. The baths matched the rest of the room's hewn-out d¨¦cor: stone-lined pools containing hot water that was heated from some underground source. Steam filled the room, and a faint, metallic smell hung in the air. Sounds of partygoers laughing and splashing echoed around us.  
"Why is Mia with you?" I asked Lissa softly. We were winding our way through the room, looking for a pool that wasn't occupied.  
"She was talking to Mason when we were getting ready to leave," she returned. She kept her voice just as quiet. "It seemed mean to just... I don't know ... leave her ..."  
Even I agreed with that. Obvious signs of grief were written all over her face, but Mia seemed at least momentarily distracted by whatever Mason was telling her.  
"I thought you didn't know Adrian," Lissa added. Disapproval hung in her voice and in the bond. We finally found a large pool, a little out of the way. A guy and a girl were on the opposite side, all over each other, but there was plenty of room for the rest of us. They were easy to ignore.  
I put a foot into the water and pulled it back immediately.  
"I don't," I told her. Cautiously, I inched the foot back in, slowly followed by the rest of my body. When I got to my stomach, I grimaced. I had on a maroon bikini, and the scalding water caught my stomach by surprise.  
"You must know him a little. He invited you to a party."  
"Yeah, but do you see him with us now?"  
She followed my gaze. Adrian stood on the far side of the room with a group of girls in bikinis much smaller than mine. One was a Betsey Johnson suit I'd seen in a magazine and coveted. I sighed and looked away.  
We'd all slipped into the water by then. It was so hot I felt like I was in a soup kettle. Now that Lissa seemed convinced of my innocence with Adrian, I tuned into the others' discussion.  
"What are you talking about?" I interrupted. It was easier than listening and figuring it out myself.  
"The meeting," said Mason excitedly. Apparently, he'd gotten over seeing me and Adrian together.  
Christian had settled onto a small shelf in the pool. Lissa curled up beside him. Putting a proprietary arm around her, he tipped his back so it rested on the edge.  
"Your boyfriend wants to lead an army against the Strigoi," he told me. I could tell he was saying it to provoke me. I looked at Mason questioningly. It wasn't worth the effort to challenge the "boyfriend" comment.  
"Hey, it was your aunt who suggested it," Mason reminded Christian.  
"She only said we should find the Strigoi before they find us again," countered Christian. "She wasn't pushing for novices fighting. That was Monica Szelsky."  
A waitress came by then with a tray of pink drinks. These were in elegant, long-stemmed crystal glasses with sugared rims. I had a strong suspicion the drinks were alcoholic, but I doubted anyone who made it into this party was going to get carded. I had no idea what they were. Most of my experiences with alcohol had involved cheap beer. I took a glass and turned back to Mason.  
"You think that's a good idea?" I asked him. I sipped the drink, cautiously. As a guardian in training, I felt like I should always be on alert, but tonight I once again felt like being rebellious. The drink tasted like punch. Grapefruit juice. Something sweet, like strawberries. I was still pretty sure there was alcohol in it, but it didn't appear strong enough for me to lose sleep over.  
Another waitress soon appeared with a tray of food. I eyed it and recognized almost nothing. There was something that looked vaguely like mushrooms stuffed with cheese, as well as something else that looked little round patties of meat or sausage. As a good carnivore, I reached for one, thinking it couldn't be that bad.  
"It's foie gras," said Christian. There was a smile on his face I didn't like.  
I eyed him warily. "What's that?"  
"You don't know?" His tone was cocky, and for once in his life, he sounded like a true royal touting his elite knowledge over us underlings. He shrugged. "Take a chance. Find out."  
Lissa sighed in exasperation. "It's goose liver."  
I jerked my hand back. The waitress moved on, and Christian laughed. I glared at him.  
Meanwhile, Mason was still hung up on my question about whether novices going to battle before graduation was a good idea.  
"What else are we doing?" he asked indignantly. "What are you doing? You run laps with Belikov every morning. What's that doing for you? For the Moroi?"  
What was that doing for me? Making my heart race and my mind have indecent thoughts.  
"We aren't ready," I said instead.  
"We've only got six more months," piped in Eddie.  
Mason nodded his agreement. "Yeah. How much more can we learn?"  
"Plenty," I said, thinking of how much I'd picked up from my tutoring sessions with Dimitri. I finished my drink. "Besides, where does it stop? Let's say they end school six months early, then send us off. What next? They decide to push back further and cut our senior year? Our junior year?"  
He shrugged. "I'm not afraid to fight. I could have taken on Strigoi when I was a sophomore."  
"Yeah," I said dryly. "Just like you did skiing on that slope."  
Mason's face, already flushed from the heat, turned redder still. I immediately regretted my words, particularly when Christian started laughing.  
"Never thought I'd live to see the day when I agreed with you, Rose. But sadly, I do." The cocktail waitress came by again, and both Christian and I took new drinks. "The Moroi have got to start helping us defend themselves."  
"With magic?" asked Mia suddenly.  
It was the first time she'd spoken since we'd got here. Silence met her. I think Mason and Eddie didn't respond because they knew nothing about fighting with magic. Lissa, Christian, and I did- and were trying very hard to act like we didn't. There was a funny sort of hope in Mia's eyes, though, and I could only imagine what she'd gone through today. She'd woken up to learn her mother was dead and then been subjected to hours and hours of political bantering and battle strategies. The fact that she was sitting here at all seeming semi-composed was a miracle. I assumed people who actually liked their mothers would barely be able to function in that situation.  
When no one else looked like they were going to answer her, I finally said, "I suppose. But... I don't know much about that."  
I finished the rest of my drink and averted my eyes, hoping someone else would take up the conversation. They didn't. Mia looked disappointed but said no more when Mason switched back to the Strigoi debate. I took a third drink and sank into the water as far as I reasonably could and still hold the glass. This drink was different. It looked chocolatey and had whipped cream on top. I took a taste and definitely detected the bite of alcohol. Still, I figured the chocolate probably diluted it.  
When I was ready for a fourth drink, the waitress was nowhere in sight. Mason seemed really, really cute to me all of a sudden. I would have liked a little romantic attention from him, but he was still going on about Strigoi and the logistics of leading a strike in the middle of the day. Mia and Eddie were nodding along with him eagerly, and I got the feeling that if he decided to hunt Strigoi right now, they'd follow. Christian was actually joining the talk, but it was more to play devil's advocate. Typical. He thought a sort of pre-emptive strike would require guardians and Moroi, much as Tasha had said. Mason, Mia, and Eddie argued that if the Moroi weren't up to it, the guardians should take matters into their own hands.  
I confess, their enthusiasm was kind of contagious. I rather liked the idea of getting the drop on Strigoi. But in the Badica and Drozdov attacks, all of the guardians had been killed. Admittedly the Strigoi had organized into huge groups and had help, but all that told me was that our side needed to be extra careful.  
His cuteness aside, I didn't want to listen to Mason talk about his battle skills anymore. I wanted another drink. I stood up and climbed over the edge of the pool. To my astonishment, the world started spinning. I'd had that happen before when I got out of baths or hot tubs too quickly, but when things didn't right themselves, I realized those drinks might have been stronger than I thought.  
I also decided a fourth wasn't such a good idea, but I didn't want to get back in and let everyone know I was drunk. I headed off toward a side room I'd seen the waitress disappear into. I hoped maybe there was a secret stash of desserts somewhere, chocolate mousse instead of goose liver. As I walked, I paid special attention to the slippery floor, thinking that falling into one of the pools and cracking my skull would definitely cost me coolness points.  
I was paying so much attention to my feet and trying not to stagger that I walked into someone. To my credit, it'd been his fault; he'd backed into me.  
"Hey, watch it," I said, steadying myself.  
But he wasn't paying attention to me. His eyes were on another guy, a guy with a bloody nose.  
I'd walked right into the middle of a fight.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Two guys I had never met before were squaring off against each other. They looked to be in their twenties, and neither noticed me. The one who'd bumped into me shoved the other one hard, forcing him to stagger back considerably.  
"You're afraid!" yelled the guy by me. He had on green swimming trunks, and his black hair was slicked back with water. "You're all afraid. You just want to hole up in your mansions and let the guardians do your dirty work. What are you going to do when they're all dead? Who'll protect you then?"  
The other guy wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand. I suddenly recognized him- thanks to his blond highlights. He was the royal who'd yelled at Tasha about wanting to lead Moroi to battle. She'd called him Andrew. He tried to land a hit and failed; his technique was all wrong. "This is the safest way. Listen to that Strigoi-lover, and we'll all be dead. She's trying to kill our whole race off!" "She's trying to save us!"  
"She's trying to get us to use black magic!"  
The "Strigoi-lover" had to be Tasha. The non-royal guy was the first person outside of my little circle whom I'd ever heard speak in her favour. I wondered how many others out there shared his view. He punched Andrew again, and my base instincts- or maybe the punch- made me leap into action.  
I sprang forward and wedged myself between them. I was still dizzy and a bit unsteady. If they hadn't been standing so close, I probably would have fallen over. They both hesitated, clearly caught off guard.  
"Get out of here," snapped Andrew.  
Being male and Moroi, they had greater height and weight than I, but I was probably stronger than either one alone. Hoping I could make the most of that, I grabbed each of them by the arm, pulled them toward me, and then shoved them away as hard as I could. They staggered, not having expected my strength. I staggered a little too.  
The non-royal glared and took a step toward me. I was counting on the fact that he'd be old-fashioned and not hit a girl. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed. Several people had gathered and were watching excitedly.  
I returned his glare. "I'm trying to stop you guys from being any more idiotic than you already are! You want to help? Stop fighting each other! Ripping each other's heads off isn't going to save the Moroi unless you're trying to thin stupidity out of the gene pool." I pointed at Andrew. "Tasha Ozera is not trying to kill everyone off. She's trying to get you to stop being a victim." I turned to the other guy. "And as for you, you've got a long ways to go if you think this is the way to get your point across. Magic- especially offensive magic- takes a lot of self-control, and so far, you don't impress me with yours. I have more than you do, and if you knew me at all, you'd know how crazy that is."  
The two guys stared at me, stunned. I was apparently more effective than a Taser. Well, at least for several seconds I was. Because once the shock of my words wore off, they went at each other again. I got caught in the crossfire and shoved away, nearly falling in the process. Suddenly, from behind me, Mason came to my defence. He punched the first guy he could- the non-royal.  
The guy flew backward, falling into one of the pools with a splash. I yelped, remembering my earlier fear about skull-cracking, but a moment later, he found his feet and rubbed water out of his eyes.  
I grabbed Mason's arm, trying to hold him back, but he shrugged me off and went after Andrew. He shoved Andrew hard, pushing him into several Moroi- Andrew's friends, I suspected- who seemed to be trying to break up the fight. The guy in the pool climbed out, fury written all over his face, and made moves toward Andrew, he began to run but suddenly Eloise was there slamming her hands into his chest and sending him back into the pool, Andrew took a step forward but she threw a hand out onto his chest.

But when I reached it, I saw that it wasn't some kind of dessert or drink room after all. Well, at least not in the way I'd been thinking. It was a feeder room. Several humans reclined on satin-covered chaise lounges with Moroi by their sides. Jasmine incense burned in the air. Stunned, I watched with an eerie fascination as a blond Moroi guy leaned forward and bit into the neck of a very pretty redhead. All of these feeders were exceptionally good-looking, I realized just then. Like actresses or models. Only the best for royalty. The guy drank long and deep, and the girl closed her eyes and parted her lips, an expression of pure bliss on her face as Moroi endorphins flooded into her bloodstream. I shivered, taken back to when I too had experienced that same kind of euphoria. In my alcohol-hazed mind, the whole thing suddenly seemed startlingly erotic. In fact, I almost felt intrusive- like I was watching people have sex. When the Moroi finished and licked the last of the blood away, he brushed his lips against her cheek in a soft kiss.  
"Want to volunteer?"  
Light fingertips brushed my neck, and I jumped. I turned around and saw Adrian's green eyes and knowing smirk.  
"Don't do that," I told him, knocking his hand away.  
"Then what are you doing in here?" he asked.  
I gestured around me. "I'm lost."  
He peered at me. "Are you drunk?"  
"No. Of course not...but ..." The nausea had settled a little, but I still didn't feel right. "I think I should sit down."  
He took my arm. "Well, don't do it in here. Someone might get the wrong idea. Let's go somewhere quiet."  
He steered me off into a different room, and I looked around with interest. It was a massage area. Several Moroi lay back on tables and were getting back and foot massages from hotel staff. The oil they used smelled like rosemary and lavender. Under any other circumstances, a massage would have sounded great, but lying on my stomach seemed like the worst idea just now.  
I sat down on the carpeted floor, leaning back against the wall. Adrian walked away and returned with a glass of water. Sitting down as well, he handed it to me.  
"Drink this. It'll help."  
"I told you, I'm not drunk," I mumbled. But I downed the water anyway.  
"Uh-huh." He smiled at me. "You did nice work with that fight. Who was the other guy that helped you?"  
"My boyfriend," I said. "Sort of."  
"Mia was right. You do have a lot of guys in your life."  
"It's not like that."  
"Okay." He was still smiling. "Where's Vasilisa? I figured she'd be attached to you."  
"She's with her boyfriend." I studied him.  
"What's with the tone? Jealous? You want him for yourself?"  
"God, no. I just don't like him."  
"Does he treat her badly?" he asked.  
"No," I admitted. "He adores her. He's just kind of a jerk."  
Adrian was clearly enjoying this. "Ah, you are jealous. Does she spend more time with him than you?"  
I ignored that. "Why do you keep asking about her? Are you interested in her?"  
He laughed. "Rest easy, I'm not interested in her in the same way I am you."  
"But you are interested."  
"I just want to talk to her."  
He left to fetch me more water. "Feeling better?" he asked, handing the glass to me. It was crystal and intricately carved. It seemed too fancy for plain water.  
"Yeah ... I didn't think those drinks were that strong."  
"That's the beauty of them," he chuckled. "And speaking of beauty ... that's a great color on you."  
I shifted. I might not have been showing as much skin as those other girls, but I was showing more than I really wanted to with Adrian. Or was I? There was something weird about him. His arrogant manner annoyed me...but I still liked being around him. Maybe the smartass in me recognized a kindred spirit. Somewhere in the back of my drunken mind, a light clicked on. But I couldn't quite get to it. I drank more water.  
"You haven't had a cigarette in, like, ten minutes," I pointed out, wanting to change the subject.  
He made a face. "No smoking in here."  
"I'm sure you've made up for it in punch."  
His smile returned. "Well, some of us can hold our liquor. You aren't going to be sick, are you?"  
I still felt tipsy but no longer nauseous. "No."  
"Good." I thought back to when I'd dreamed about him. It had been just a dream, but it had stuck with me, particularly the talk about me being surrounded in darkness. I wanted to ask him about it... even though I knew it was stupid. It had been my dream, not his.  
"Adrian..." He turned his green eyes on me. "Yes, darling?"  
I couldn't bring myself to ask. "Never mind."  
He started to retort, then tilted his head toward the door. "Ah, here she comes."  
"Who- "  
Lissa stepped into the room, eyes scanning around. When she spotted us, I saw relief break over her. I couldn't feel it, though. Intoxicants like alcohol numbed the bond. It was another reason I shouldn't have taken such a stupid chance tonight.  
"There you are," she said, kneeling beside me. Glancing at Adrian, she gave him a nod. "Hey."  
"Hey yourself, cousin," he returned, using the family terms royals sometimes used around each other.  
"You okay?" Lissa asked me. "When I saw how drunk you were, I thought you might have fallen in somewhere and drowned."  
"I'm not- " I gave up trying to deny it. "I'm fine."  
Adrian's usual expression had turned serious as he studied Lissa. It again reminded me of the dream. "How'd you find her?"  
Lissa gave him a puzzled look. "I, um, checked all the rooms."  
"Oh." He looked disappointed. "I thought you might have used your bond."  
Both she and I stared.  
"How do you know about that?" I demanded. Only a few people at school knew about it. Adrian had spoken about it as casually as he might have my hair color.  
"Hey, I can't reveal all my secrets, can I?" he asked mysteriously. "And besides, there's a certain way you two act around each other ... it's hard to explain. It's pretty cool... all the old myths are true."  
Lissa regarded him warily. "The bond only works one way. Rose can sense what I'm feeling and thinking, but I can't do it back to her."  
"Ah." We sat in silence a few moments, and I drank more water. Adrian spoke again. "What'd you specialize in anyway, cousin?"  
She looked embarrassed. We both knew it was important to keep her spirit powers secret from others who might abuse her healing, but her cover story of not having specialized always bothered her.  
"I haven't," she said.  
"Do they think you're going to? Late bloomer?"  
"No."  
"You're probably higher in the other elements, though, right? Just not strong enough to really master any?" He reached out to pat her shoulder in an exaggerated show of comfort.  
"Yeah, how'd you- "  
The instant his fingers touched her, she gasped. It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck her. The strangest look crossed her face. Even drunk, I felt the flood of joy that came pouring through the bond. She stared at Adrian in wonder. His eyes were locked onto hers too. I didn't understand why they were looking at each other like that, but it bothered me.  
"Hey," I said. "Stop that. I told you, she has a boyfriend."  
"I know," he said, still watching her. A small smile turned his lips. "We need to have a chat someday, cousin."  
"Yes," she agreed.  
"Hey." I was more confused than ever. "You have a boyfriend. And there he is."  
She blinked back to reality. All three of us turned toward the doorway. Christian and the others stood there. I suddenly had a flashback to when they'd found me with Adrian's arm around me. This wasn't much better. Lissa and I were sitting on either side of him, very close.  
She sprang up, looking mildly guilty. Christian was regarding her curiously.  
"We're getting ready to leave," he said.  
"Okay," she told him. She looked down at me. "Ready?"  
I nodded and started to clamber to my feet. Adrian caught my arm as I did and helped me up. He smiled at Lissa. "Nice talking to you." To me, he murmured very quietly, "Don't worry. I told you, I'm not interested in her in that way. She doesn't look as good in a bathing suit. Probably not as good out of one either."  
I pulled my arm away. "Well, you'll never find out."  
"It's okay," he said. "I have a good imagination."  
I joined the others, and we headed back toward the main part of the lodge. Mason gave me as strange a look as Christian had given Lissa and stayed away from me, walking toward the front with Eddie. Eloise walked with Mason who grabbed her arm and steered her off in another direction.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Eloise POV

We were walking back when Mason grabbed my arm and began to steer me away from the rest of them, "What do you want Ashford?" he pushed me up against the wall, "I have had enough of you ignoring me and snapping at me all the time." My jaw slackened, "I cannot believe you!" I tried walking away but he shoved me back into the wall, "What the hell is wrong with you! I cannot believe it! I tell you I love you, you tell me you love Rose and I'm the bad guy! I tell you I loved you since we were four years old and you threw it back in my face!" He growled and took a step back. "I'm sorry El." I shook my head and slipped past him. When I walked back towards the lobby I bumped into Dimitri, "Ellie! How are you feeling?" I looked at him, "Spectacular." He grinned at me, "What do you want me to do?" he smiled and threw an arm around my shoulder. "I need you to keep an eye on someone for me." I cocked an eyebrow, "You want me to spy on Rose, don't you?" he smiled, "Why don't you just talk to her yourself? God you two are pathetic, just kiss each other and tell her you love each other and then get together! God you are so bloody annoying!" He took a step forward and cupped my cheeks, "Calm down. I'm sorry." I nodded and smiled, "I'll do it." He smiled and ran off presumably to find Tasha.

I went to sleep that night with tears streaming down my face and when I woke up in the morning I had to put on make up to hide the redness around them, I could not however hide them being bloodshot. I was looking for Mia and Alli when I stumbled across Dimitri, Adrian, Lissa and Rose, "Besides," continued Adrian, "nothing sordid was going on. We were just hanging out."  
"If you want to 'hang out' with young girls, do it at one of the public areas."  
I walked around the corner and into view. Adrian saw me as did the rest, "Young girls? Young girls? Sure. Young and old at the same time. They've barely seen anything in life, yet they've already seen too much. One's marked with life, and one's marked with death and one is marked with both...but they're the ones you're worried about? Worry about yourself, dhampir. Worry about you, and worry about me. We're the ones who are young." I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and walked over to him. He turned away and strolled toward the window, glancing casually back at the rest of us as he pulled out his cigarettes. "You ladies should probably go. He's right. I am a bad influence." The rest of them left and I walked over to Adrian, "Adrian?" He smiled and wrapped an arm around my waist, "Sorry, love." I rested my head on his shoulder. After a few moments of silence I asked him, "Are you a spirit user Adrian?" He smiled and kissed my cheek, "Only you could figure it out." He whispered in my ear before leading me away. We hung out in his room for a while talking about spirit, "It makes me so depressed so I drink. And drink and smoke, and smoke some more." I grazed his arm, "It's going to kill you one day. Let me help you." He laughed, "How? How are you going to help me?" I shook my head and shrugged, "I don't know. But I will." He smiled and pushed me off the bed.

Later that night I was walking to the pool tournament when I saw Mason heading into Rose's room, shivering I continued onto the pool tables. I was meeting Eddie there and we sat at the bar both with a beer in hand, "This is one crazy holiday." He muttered, I smirked and raised my bottle to his, "To our worlds never being normal." We clinked them and took a swing, "Okay, time for us to get serious." I grabbed another beer and we headed off to the pool tables. Eddie and I were discussing the Moroi using magic as a defence when I slipped into Alli's mind. "Hey Alli, just a one night." Jesse fricking Zeklos said as they stood next to each other in the lobby. She shied away from him, "Eloise would kill me." He smiled and moved in closer, his hand trailing up and down her arm, "How would she know?" She smiled and he took that as a good sign. He stepped in closer and leaned down kissing her on the cheek, then the neck, then the mouth. I came back to reality with Eddie waving his hand in front of my face, "You alright? You just zoned out for a second." I dropped my bottle and it shattered at my feet. "Wow, Ellie what's up?" I tore away from him and ran from the pool room and down three flights of stairs. By the time I got there Jesse was leading Alli out of the room and they bumped into me. "Where do you think you're going Zeklos?" He looked down at me and took a step back, "I told you the last time I found you even looking at Alli I would kill you. Do you really want to play with that type of fire?" He gulped and took another step back as I slowly advanced on him until we were back in the lobby. Moroi and Guardians all looked at us, I saw Dimitri and Tasha on the other side of the room. He shoved into me and I pulled my fist back and drove it into his face, he came at me this time with a clumsy kick to the stomach to which I blocked and grabbed his ankle flipping him over with it. I knelt down next to him, "Stay. Away. From. Her. Or you might just disappear one day. Wouldn't that be a tragedy?" he gulped and nodded. Dimitri and Tasha were standing next to me when I stood up, "One more time. One more time, Alli and I will send you away to a different school." She nodded and I told her to go back to her room. Eddie was suddenly next to me with two new beer bottles in hand. "Bless you." I said taking a sip, "You sure that's legal?" Dimitri asked nodding at the bottle, "Mate, there are a lot of illegal things you have done. Do you want to start talking about abiding by the law?" Tasha laughed and they walked away. Eddie and I were doing a weird drunken dance down the hallway of the lodge when Mason found us, "Mase! You missed out on all the fun!" Eddie slurred, "I can tell." Mason said reeling backwards at the alcohol on our breaths. "Yeah, Ellie here smashed Jesse's face again!" I stumbled and Mason caught my elbow. "You alright?" I giggled, "Perfect!" I took a step and almost fell over, "Alright that's it. Eddie got to your room, I'm taking Miss Lightweight to hers." He wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me walk to my room, "You know Mase, I think you and I would be perfect together. I mean your red hair with my blonde, you could paint a picture." I hiccupped and stumbled again, "You don't know what you're saying. This is taking too long, come on." He carefully lifted me into his arms and I hooked an arm around his neck, nestling my face into the crook of his neck. "I'll always love you Mason Ashford." He sighed and kept walking. "Where are your keys?" I shrugged and he placed me on the ground outside my room, "Hold still." He checked my pockets before slipping his hand into my back pocket, "Got them." He lifted me up again and opened the door. Sliding me into my bed he pulled the covers up, "Stay with me?" He rolled his eyes and slipped into next to me. I snuggled in next to him and he wrapped his arms around me, "You're one hell of a woman, Eloise Kosev." I smiled and slowly fell asleep.

"Oi, Ellie. Wake up." I peeled my eyes open to see Mason looking at me, "Rise and shine." I groaned and turned over, "No rising, no shinning." He grinned and kissed my cheek. "I have to go but I'll see you later. I promise." I flipped him off and he walked out laughing. Wait a second. Why the hell was Mason in my room? I jerked up pretty quickly after that, "Holy shit." I said rubbing my forehead in embarrassment. At about one o'clock I pulled myself out of bed and took a shower, throwing on my winter gear, and heading out of the lodge. I stretched in the sun and pepped over at the gates. Rose and Christian were talking to a guard when suddenly Rose smashed an object over his head, and they left the compound. Widening my eyes I ran to my room to grab my car keys. It was only when I was half way to Lowston did I realise my mistake of not telling anyone.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Rose's POV

It was late afternoon by the time we reached Spokane. It took a few people, but we finally found someone who knew the shopping center Dimitri had mentioned. It was a long ways from the bus station, but it was walkable. My legs were stiff after almost five hours of riding a bus, and I wanted the movement. The sun was a while from setting, but it was lower and less detrimental to vampires, so Christian didn't mind the walk either.  
And, as often happened when I was in calm settings, I felt a tug into Lissa's head. I let myself fall into her because I wanted to know what was happening back at the resort.  
"I know you want to protect them, but we need to know where they are."  
Lissa sat on the bed in our room while Dimitri and my mom stared her down. It was Dimitri who had spoken. Seeing him through her eyes was interesting. She had a fond respect for him, very different from the intense roller coaster of emotions I always experienced.

"I told you," said Lissa, "I don't know. I don't know what happened."  
Frustration and fear for us burned through her. It saddened me to see her so anxious, but at the same time, I was glad I hadn't gotten her involved. She couldn't report what she didn't know.  
"I can't believe they wouldn't have told you where they were going," said my mother. Her words sounded flat, but there were lines of worry on her face. "Especially with your...bond."  
"It only works one way," said Lissa sadly. "You know that."  
Dimitri knelt down so he could be at Lissa's height and look her in the eye. He pretty much had to do that to look anyone in the eye. "Are you sure there's nothing? Nothing at all you can tell us? They're nowhere in town. The man at the bus station didn't see them ... though we're pretty sure that's where they must have gone. We need something, anything to go on."  
Man at the bus station? That was another stroke of luck. The woman who'd sold us the tickets must have gone home. Her replacement wouldn't know us.  
Lissa gritted her teeth and glared. "Don't you think if I knew, I'd tell you? You don't think I'm worried about them too? I have no idea where they are. None. And why'd they even leave... it doesn't make any sense either. Especially why they'd go with Mia, of all people." A twinge of hurt flickered through the bond, hurt at being left out of whatever we were doing, no matter how wrong.  
Dimitri sighed and leaned back on his heels. From the look on his face, he obviously believed her. It was also obvious that he was worried- worried in more than a professional way. And seeing that concern- that concern for me- ate up my heart.  
"Rose?" Christian's voice brought me back to myself. "We're here, I think."  
The plaza consisted of a wide, open area in front of a shopping center  
"So, how do we find them?" asked Christian.  
I shrugged. "Maybe if we act like Strigoi, they'll try to stake us."  
A small, reluctant smile played over his face. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd thought my joke was funny.  
He and I went inside. Like any mall, it was filled with familiar chains, and a selfish part of me thought that maybe if we found the group soon enough, we could still get in shopping time.  
Christian and I walked the length of it twice and saw no signs of our friends or anything resembling tunnels.  
"Maybe we're in the wrong place," I finally said.  
"Or maybe they are," suggested Christian. "They could have gone to some other- wait."  
He pointed, and I followed the gesture. The three renegades sat at a table in the middle of the food court, looking dejected. They looked so miserable, I almost felt sorry for them.  
"I'd kill for a camera right now," said Christian, smirking.  
"This isn't funny," I told him, striding toward the group. Inside, I breathed a sigh of relief. The group clearly hadn't found any Strigoi, were all still alive, and could maybe be taken back before we got in even more trouble.  
They didn't notice me until I was almost right next to them. Eddie's head jerked up. "Rose? What are you doing here?"  
"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled. A few people nearby gave us surprised looks. "Do you know how much trouble you're in? How much trouble you've gotten us in?"  
"How the hell did you find us?" asked Mason in a low voice, glancing anxiously around.  
"You guys aren't exactly criminal masterminds," I told them. "Your informant at the bus station gave you away. That, and I figured out that you'd want to go off on your pointless Strigoi-hunting quest."  
The look Mason gave me revealed he still wasn't entirely happy with me. It was Mia who replied, however.  
"It isn't pointless."  
"Oh?" I demanded. "Did you kill any Strigoi? Did you even find any?"  
"No," admitted Eddie.  
"Good," I said. "You got lucky."  
"Why are you so against killing Strigoi?" asked Mia hotly. "Isn't that what you train for?"  
"I train for sane missions, not childish stunts like this."  
"It isn't childish," she cried. "They killed my mother. And the guardians weren't doing anything. Even their information is bad. There weren't any Strigoi in the tunnels. Probably none in the whole city."  
Christian looked impressed. "You found the tunnels?"  
"Yeah," said Eddie. "But like she said, they were useless."  
"We should see them before we go," Christian told me. "It'd be kind of cool, and if the data was bad, there's no danger."  
"No," I snapped. "We're going home. Now."  
Mason looked tired. "We're going to search the city again. Even you can't make us go back, Rose."  
"No, but the school's guardians can when I call and tell them you're here."  
Call it blackmailing or being a tattletale; the effect was the same. The three of them looked at me like I had just simultaneously gut-punched them all.  
"You'd really do that?" asked Mason. "You'd sell us out like that?"  
I rubbed my eyes, wondering desperately why I was trying to be the voice of reason here. Where was the girl who'd run away from school? Mason had been right. I had changed.  
"This isn't about selling anyone out. This is about keeping you guys alive."  
"You think we're that defenseless?" asked Mia. "You think we'd get killed right away?"  
"Yes," I said. "Unless you've found some way to use water as a weapon?"  
She flushed and didn't say anything.  
"We brought silver stakes," said Eddie.  
Fantastic. They must have stolen them. I looked at Mason pleadingly.  
"Mason. Please. Call this off. Let's go back."  
He looked at me for a long time. Finally, he sighed. "Okay."  
Eddie and Mia looked aghast, but Mason had assumed a leadership role with them, and they didn't have the initiative to go on without him. Mia seemed to take it the hardest, and I felt bad for her. She'd barely had any real time to grieve for her mother; she'd just jumped right on board with this revenge thing as a way to cope with the pain. She'd have a lot to deal with when we got back.  
Christian was still excited about the idea of the underground tunnels. Considering he spent all his time in an attic, I shouldn't have been all that surprised.  
"I saw the schedule," he told me. "We've got a while before the next bus."  
"We can't go walking into some Strigoi lair," I argued, walking toward the mall's entrance.  
"There are no Strigoi there," said Mason. "It's seriously all janitorial stuff. There was no sign of anything weird. I really do think the guardians had bad information."  
"Rose," said Christian, "let's get something fun out of this."  
They all looked at me. I felt like a mom who wouldn't buy her kids candy at the grocery store.  
"Okay, fine. Just a peek, though."  
The others led Christian and me to the opposite end of the mall, through a door marked staff only. We dodged a couple of janitors, then slipped through another door that led us to a set of stairs going down. I had a brief moment of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, recalling the steps down to Adrian's spa party. Only these stairs were dirtier and smelled pretty nasty.  
We reached the bottom. It wasn't so much a tunnel as a narrow corridor, lined in grime-caked cement. Ugly fluorescent lights were embedded sporadically along the walls. The passage went off to our left and right. Boxes of ordinary cleaning and electrical supplies sat around.  
"See?" said Mason. "Boring."  
I pointed in each direction. "What's down there?"  
"Nothing," sighed Mia. "We'll show you."  
We walked down to the right and found more of the same. I was starting to agree with the boring assessment when we passed some black writing on one of the walls. I stopped and looked at it. It was a list of letters.  
D  
B  
C  
O  
T  
D  
V  
L  
D  
Z  
S  
I  
Some had lines and x marks next to them, but for the most part the message was incoherent. Mia noticed my scrutiny.  
"It's probably a janitor thing," she said. "Or maybe some gang did it."  
"Probably," I said, still studying it. The others shifted restlessly, not understanding my fascination with the jumble of letters. I didn't understand my fascination either, but something in my head tugged at me to stay.  
Then I got it.  
B for Badica, Z for Zeklos, I for Ivashkov ...  
I stared. The first letter of every royal family's name was there. There were three D names, but based on the order, you could actually read the list as a size ranking. It started with the smaller families- Dragomir, Badica, Conta- and went all the way up to the giant Ivashkov clan. I didn't understand the dashes and lines beside the letters, but I quickly noticed which names had an x beside them: Badica and Drozdov.  
I stepped back from the wall. "We have to get out of here," I said. My own voice scared me a little. "Right now."  
The others looked at me in surprise. "Why?" asked Eddie. "What's going on?"  
"I'll tell you later. We just need to go."  
Mason pointed in the direction we'd been heading. "This lets out a few blocks away. It's closer to the station."  
I peered down into the dark unknown. "No," I said. "We're going back the way we came."  
They all looked at me like I was insane as we retraced our steps, but nobody questioned me yet. When we emerged from the mall's front, I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the sun was still out, though it was steadily sinking into the horizon and casting orange and red light onto the buildings. The remaining light would still be enough for us to get back to the bus station before we were really in any danger of seeing Strigoi.  
And I knew now that there really were Strigoi in Spokane. Dimitri's information had been correct. I didn't know what the list meant, but it clearly had something to do with the attacks. I needed to report it to the other guardians immediately, and I certainly couldn't tell the others what I'd realized until we were safely at the lodge. Mason was likely to go back into the tunnels if he knew what I did.  
Most of our walk back to the station proceeded in silence. I think my mood had cowed the others. Even Christian seemed to have run out of snide comments. Inside, my emotions swirled, oscillating between anger and guilt as I kept re-examining my role in everything.  
Ahead of me, Eddie stopped walking, and I nearly ran into him. He looked around. "Where are we?"  
Snapping out of my own thoughts, I surveyed the area too. I didn't remember these buildings. "Damn it," I exclaimed. "Are we lost? Didn't anyone keep track of which way we went?"  
It was an unfair question since I clearly hadn't paid attention either, but my temper had pushed me past reason. Mason studied me for a few moments, then pointed. "This way."  
We turned and walked down a narrow street between two buildings. I didn't think we were going the right way, but I didn't really have a better idea. I also didn't want to stand around debating.  
We hadn't gone very far when I heard the sound of an engine and squealing tires. Mia was walking in the middle of the road, and protective conditioning kicked in before I even saw what was coming. Grabbing her, I jerked her out of the street and up against one of the building walls. The boys had done the same.  
A large, gray van with tinted windows had rounded the corner and was headed in our direction. We pressed flat against the wall, waiting for it to go past.  
Only it didn't.  
Screeching to a halt, it stopped right in front of us, and the doors slid open. Three big guys spilled out, and again, my instincts kicked in. I had no clue who they were or what they wanted, but they clearly weren't friendly. That was all I needed to know.  
One of them moved toward Christian, and I struck out and punched him. The guy barely staggered but was clearly surprised to have felt it at all, I think. He probably hadn't expected someone as small as me to be much of a threat. Ignoring Christian, he moved toward me. In my peripheral vision, I saw Mason and Eddie squaring off with the other two. Mason had actually pulled out his stolen silver stake. Mia and Christian stood there, frozen.  
Our attackers were relying a lot on bulk. They didn't have the sort of background we had in offensive and defensive techniques. Plus, they were human, and we had dhampir strength. Unfortunately, we also had the disadvantage of being cornered against the wall. We had nowhere to retreat to. Most importantly, we had something to lose. But then Eloise was there attacking like a god. She blurred around them aiming well trained attacks into them. But like I said we had something to lose.  
Like Mia.  
The guy who'd been sparring with Mason seemed to realize this. He backed off from Mason and instead grabbed her. I barely saw the flash of his gun before its barrel was pressed against her neck. Eloise backed off from her own adversary, Eloise yelled at Eddie to stop. We'd all been trained to respond instantly to those kinds of orders, and he halted his attack, glancing at her questioningly When he saw Mia, his face went pale. I wanted nothing more than to keep pummeling these men- whoever they were- but I couldn't risk this guy hurting Mia. He knew it, too. He didn't even have to make the threat. He was human, but he knew enough about us to know that we'd go out of our way to protect the Moroi. Novices had a saying grilled into us from an early age: Only they matter.

Everyone stopped and looked between him and Eloise. Apparently they were the acknowledged leaders here. "What do you want?" she asked harshly.  
The guy pressed his gun closer to Mia's neck, and she whimpered. For all her talk about fighting, she was smaller than me and not nearly as strong. And she was too terrified to move.  
The man inclined his head toward the van's open door. "I want you to get inside. And don't start anything. You do, and she's gone."  
I looked at Mia, the van, my other friends, and then back to the guy. Eloise nodded. Shit. Once we were all sitting on the floor of the van they tied our hands with flex-cuffs. Our captors made no attempts to blindfold us or conceal our route, which I didn't take as a good sign. Did they think we didn't know the city well enough to retrace our steps? Or did they figure it didn't matter since we wouldn't be leaving wherever they were taking us? All I sensed was that we were driving away from downtown, off toward a more suburban area. Spokane was as dull as I'd imagined. Unlike where pristine white snow lay in drifts, slushy gray puddles lined the streets and dirty patches dotted the lawns. There were also a lot fewer evergreen trees than I was used to. The scraggly, leafless deciduous trees here seemed skeletal by comparison. They only added to the mood of impending doom.  
After what felt like less than an hour, the van turned down a quiet cul-de-sac, and we drove up to a very ordinary- yet large- house. Other houses- identical in the way suburban homes often are- stood nearby, which gave me hope. Maybe we could get some help from the neighbors.  
We pulled inside the garage, and once the door was back down, the men ushered us into the house. It looked a lot more interesting on the inside. Antique, claw-footed sofas and chairs. A large, saltwater fish tank. Swords crossed over the fireplace. One of those stupid modern art paintings that consisted of a few lines splayed across the canvas.  
The part of me that enjoyed destroying things would have liked to study the swords in detail, but the main floor wasn't our destination. Instead, we were led down a narrow flight of stairs, down to a basement as large as the floor above. Only, unlike the main floor's open space, the basement was sectioned off into a series of halls and closed doors. It was like a rat's maze. Our captors led us through it without hesitation, into a small room with a concrete floor and unpainted drywall.  
The furniture inside consisted of several very uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs with slatted backs- backs that proved to be a convenient place for rebinding our hands. The men seated us in such a way that Mia and Christian sat on one side of the room, and the rest of us dhampirs sat on the other. One guy- the leader, apparently- watched carefully as one of his henchmen bound Eddie's hands with new flex-cuffs.  
"These are the ones you especially have to watch," he warned, nodding toward us. "They'll fight back." His eyes traveled first to Eddie's face, then Mason's, and then mine and finally Eloise. She held his gaze for several moments, and scowled. He looked back over at his associate. "Watch her in particular."  
When we'd been restrained to his satisfaction, he barked out a few more orders to the others and then left the room, shutting the door loudly behind him. His steps echoed through the house as he walked upstairs. Moments later, silence fell.  
We sat there, staring at each other. After several minutes, Mia whimpered and started to speak. "What are you going to- "  
"Shut up," growled one of the men. He took a warning step toward her. Blanching, she cringed but still looked as though she might say something else. I caught her eye and shook my head. She stayed silent, eyes wide and a slight tremble to her lip.  
There's nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what'll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor. Since our guards wouldn't talk to us or tell us what was in store, I imagined all sorts of horrible scenarios. The guns were the obvious threat, and I found myself pondering what a bullet would feel like. Painful, presumably. And where would they shoot? Through the heart or the head? Quick death. But somewhere else? Like the stomach? That would be slow and painful. I shuddered at the thought of my life bleeding out of me. Thinking of all that blood put me in mind of the Badica house and maybe having our throats slit. These men could have knives as well as guns.  
Of course, I had to wonder why we were still alive at all. Clearly they wanted something from us, but what? They weren't asking for information. And they were human. What would humans want with us? Usually the most we feared from humans was either running into crazy slayer types or those who wanted to experiment on us. I looked up and saw Eloise trying to catch my gaze, I looked at her and she brought her hand around further than the cuff's should have allowed her. Eloise the magician was free. "Yes, sir," I heard the leader say. "They're in here, just like you wanted."  
Finally, I realized. The person behind our kidnapping. Panic shot through me. I had to escape.  
"Let us out of here!" I yelled, straining at my bindings. "Let us out of here, you son of a- "  
I stopped. Something inside of me shriveled up. My throat went dry. My heart wanted to stop. The guard had returned with a man and a woman I didn't recognize. I did, however, recognize that they were ...  
... Strigoi.  
Real, live- well, figuratively speaking- Strigoi. It all suddenly clicked together. It wasn't just the Spokane reports that had been true. What we'd feared- Strigoi working with humans- had come true. This changes everything. Daylight wasn't safe anymore. None of us were safe anymore. Worse, I realized these must be the rogue Strigoi- the ones who had attacked the two Moroi families with human help. Again, those horrible memories came to me: bodies and blood everywhere. Bile rose in my throat, and I tried to shift my thoughts from the past to the present situation. Not that that was any more reassuring.  
Moroi had pale skin, the kind of skin that blushed and burned easily. But these vampires...their skin was white, chalky in a way that made it look like the result of a bad makeup job. The pupils of their eyes had a red ring around them, driving home what monsters they were.  
The woman, actually, reminded me of Natalie- my poor friend whose father had convinced her to turn Strigoi. It took me a few moments to figure out what the resemblance was because they looked nothing alike. This woman was short- probably human before becoming Strigoi- and had brown hair with a bad highlighting job.  
Then it hit me. This Strigoi was a new one, much as Natalie had been. It didn't become obvious until I compared her with the Strigoi man. The Strigoi woman's face had a little life in it. But his ... his was the face of death.  
His face was completely devoid of any sort of warmth or gentler emotion. His expression was cold and calculating, laced with malicious amusement. He was tall, as tall as Dimitri, and had a slender frame that indicated he'd been Moroi before changing over. Shoulder-length black hair framed his face and stood out against the bright scarlet of his dress shirt. His eyes were so dark and brown that without the red ring, it would have been almost impossible to tell where pupil ended and iris began.

One of the guards shoved me hard, even though I'd been silent. He glanced up at the Strigoi man. "You want me to gag her?"  
I suddenly realized I'd been hunching into the back of my chair, unconsciously trying to get as far away from him as possible. He realized this too, and a thin, toothless smile crossed his lips.  
"No," he said. His voice was silky and low. "I'd like to hear what she has to say." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Please. Continue."  
I swallowed.  
"No? Nothing to add? Well. Do feel free to pipe up if something else comes to mind."  
"Isaiah," exclaimed the woman. "Why are you keeping them here? Why haven't you just contacted the others?"  
"Elena, Elena," Isaiah murmured to her. "Behave yourself. I'm not going to pass up the chance to enjoy myself with two Moroi and ..." He walked behind my chair and lifted my hair, making me shudder. A moment later, he peered at Mason and Eddie's necks as well. "...three unblooded dhampirs." He spoke those words with an almost happy sigh, and I realized he'd been looking for guardian tattoos. He then walked over to Eloise and for a moment I thought he had realised she was free but he brushed her long hair aside, "You are un-marked but have killed. Oh you're the Kosev girl. We've heard a lot about you." He said stroking her cheek.  
Strolling over to Mia and Christian, Isaiah rested a hand on his hip as he studied them. Mia could only meet his eyes for an instant before looking away. Christian's fear was palpable, but he managed to return the Strigoi's scrutiny. It made me proud.  
"Look at these eyes, Elena." Elena walked over and stood beside Isaiah as he spoke. "That pale blue. Like ice. Like aquamarines. You almost never get that outside of the royal houses. Badicas. Ozeras. The occasional Zeklos."  
"Ozera," said Christian, trying very hard to sound fearless.  
Isaiah tilted his head. "Really? Surely not..." He leaned closer to Christian. "But the age is right...and that hair..." He smiled. "Lucas and Moira's son?"  
Christian said nothing, but the confirmation on his face was obvious.  
"I knew your parents. Great people. Unparalleled. Their deaths were a shame... but, well... I daresay they brought that on themselves. I told them they shouldn't have gone back for you. Would have been wasteful to awaken you so young. They claimed they were going to just keep you around and waken you when you were older. I warned them that that would be a disaster, but, well..." He gave a delicate shrug. "Awaken" was the term Strigoi used among themselves when they changed over. It sounded like a religious experience. "They wouldn't listen, and disaster met them in a different way."  
Hatred, deep and dark, boiled behind Christian's eyes. Isaiah smiled again.  
"It's quite touching that you should find your way to me after all this time. Perhaps I can realize their dream after all."  
"Isaiah," said the woman- Elena- again. Every word out of her mouth seemed like a whine. "Call the others- "  
"Stop giving me orders!" Isaiah grabbed her shoulder and shoved her away- except that the push knocked her across the room and almost through the wall. She just barely threw her hand out in time to stop the impact. Strigoi had better reflexes than dhampirs or even Moroi; her lack of grace meant he'd completely caught her off guard. And really, he'd barely touched her. The push had been light- yet it had packed the force of a small car.  
This further enforced my belief that he was in another class altogether. His strength beat hers by magnitudes. She was like a fly he could swat away. Strigoi power increased with age- as well as through the consumption of Moroi blood and, to a lesser extent, dhampir blood. This guy wasn't just old, I realized. He was ancient. And he'd drunk a lot of blood over the years. Terror filled Elena's features, and I could understand her fear. Strigoi turned against each other all the time. He could have ripped her head off if he wanted.  
She cowered, averting her eyes. "I... I'm sorry, Isaiah."  
Isaiah smoothed his shirt- not that it had been wrinkled. His voice took on the cold pleasantness he'd affected earlier. "You clearly have opinions here, Elena, and I welcome you voicing them in a civilized manner. What do you think we should do with these cubs?"  
"You should- that is, I think we should just take them now. Especially the Moroi." She was clearly working hard not to whine again and annoy him. "Unless...you aren't going to throw another dinner party, are you? It's a complete waste. We'll have to share, and you know the others won't be grateful. They never are."  
"I'm not making a dinner party out of them," he declared loftily. Dinner party? "But I'm not killing them yet either. You're young, Elena. You only think about immediate gratification. When you're as old as me, you won't be so ... impatient."  
She rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking.  
Turning, he swept his gaze over me, Mason, Eddie and Elli. "You four, I'm afraid, are going to die. There's no avoiding it. I'd like to say I'm sorry, but, well, I'm not. Apart from Miss Kosev over there. Such is the way of the world. You do have a choice in how you die, however, and that will be dictated by your behavior." His eyes lingered on me. I didn't really get why everyone seemed to be singling me out as the troublemaker here. Well, maybe I did. "Some of you will die more painfully than others."  
I didn't need to see Mason and Eddie to know their fear mirrored mine. I was pretty sure I even heard Eddie whimper.  
Isaiah abruptly turned on his heels, military-style, and faced Mia and Christian. "You two, fortunately, have options. Only one of you will die. The other will live on in glorious immortality. I'll even be kind enough to take you under my wing until you're a little older. Such is my charity."  
I couldn't help it. I choked on a laugh.  
Isaiah spun around and stared at me. I fell silent and waited for him to throw me across the room like he had Elena, but he did nothing else but stare. It was enough. My heart raced, and I felt tears brim in my eyes. My fear shamed me. I wanted to be like Dimitri. Maybe even like my mother. After several long, agonizing moments, Isaiah turned back to the Moroi.  
"Now. As I was saying, one of you will be awakened and live forever. But it will not be me who wakens you. You will choose to be awakened willingly."  
"Not likely," said Christian. He packed as much snarky defiance as he could manage into those two words, but it was still obvious to everyone else in the room that he was scared out of his mind.  
"Ah, how I love the Ozera spirit," mused Isaiah. He glanced at Mia, his red eyes gleaming. She shrank back in fear. "But don't let him upstage you, my dear. There's strength in common blood, too. And here's how it will be decided." He pointed at us dhampirs. His gazed chilled me all over, and I imagined I could smell the stink of decay. "If you want to live, all you have to do is kill one of these three." He turned back to the Moroi. "That's it. Not unpleasant at all. Just tell one of these gentlemen here you want to do it. They'll release you. Then you drink from them and are awakened as one of us. Whoever does this first walks free. The other will be dinner for Elena and me. And Miss Kosev. Who knows what will happen to her."  
Silence hung in the room.  
"No," said Christian. "No way am I killing one of my friends. I don't care what you do. I'll die first."

Isaiah waved a dismissive hand. "Easy to be brave when you aren't hungry. Go a few days without any other sustenance ... and yes, these three will start to look very good. And they are. Dhampirs are delicious. Some prefer them to Moroi, and while I myself have never shared such beliefs, I can certainly appreciate the variety."  
Christian scowled.  
"Don't believe me?" asked Isaiah. "Then let me prove it." He walked back over to my side of the room. I realized what he was going to do and spoke without fully thinking things through.  
"Use me," I blurted out. "Drink from me."  
Isaiah's smug look faltered for a moment, and his eyebrows rose. "You're volunteering?"  
"I've done it before. Let Moroi feed off me, I mean. I don't mind. I like it. Leave the rest of them alone."  
"Rose!" exclaimed Mason.  
I ignored him and looked beseechingly at Isaiah. I didn't want him to feed off me. The thought made me sick. But I had given blood before, and I'd rather him take pints from me before he touched Eddie or Mason.  
I couldn't read his expression as he sized me up. For half a second, I thought he might go for it, but instead he shook his head.  
"No. Not you. Not yet." He walked over and stood before Eddie. I pulled against my flex-cuffs so hard that they dug painfully into my skin. They didn't give. "No! Leave him alone!"  
"Quiet," snapped Isaiah, without looking at me. He rested one hand on the side of Eddie's face. Eddie trembled and had gone so pale, I thought he would faint. "I can make this easy, or I can make it hurt. Your silence will encourage the former."  
I wanted to scream, wanted to call Isaiah all sorts of names and make all sorts of threats. But I couldn't. My eyes flicked around the room, searching for exits, as I had so many times before. But there were none. Just blank, bare white walls. No windows. The one precious door, always guarded. I was helpless, just as helpless as I'd been from the moment they'd pulled us into the van. I felt like crying, more from frustration than fear. What kind of guardian would I be if I couldn't protect my friends?  
But I stayed quiet, and a look of satisfaction crossed Isaiah's face. The fluorescent lighting gave his skin a sickly, grayish hue, emphasizing the dark circles under his eyes. I wanted to punch him.  
"Good." He smiled at Eddie and held his face so that the two made direct eye contact. "Now, you won't fight me, will you?"  
As I've mentioned, Lissa was good at compulsion. But she couldn't have done this. In seconds, Eddie was smiling.  
"No. I won't fight you."  
"Good," repeated Isaiah. "And you'll give me your neck freely, won't you?"  
"Of course," replied Eddie, tilting his head back. He didn't get very far before a black and white blur shot at him. They tumbled to the ground and she got the upper advantage kicking him in the ribs she made moves only trained guardians made. But Elena tackled her from behind and they went rolling, Eloise flipped their positions and reeled her fist back pounding it into her face over and over again. "El, look out!" Mason yelled as Isaiah moved behind her, she did an impressive back flip kicking him in the face. But it was two to one and Elena and Isaiah moved as a team. In the end Isaiah grabbed her around the neck and held her tight, "Not a smart idea, Miss Kosev." He whispered harshly in her ear. "Elena, you drink a little from the boy. I'm going to have a bit of fun with Miss Kosev here." Mason began struggiling as Isaiah re-tied Eloise's hands and sat her on his lap. "Only a little bit Elena." He said before lowering his mouth onto Eloise's neck. She gave an intake of breath and dug her nails into her skin. She was fighting the Bliss. Looking away I heard Eddie emit a soft, happy moan. The feeding itself was relatively quiet- no slurping or anything like that.  
"There."  
I glanced back when I heard Isaiah speak again. Blood dripped from his lips, and he ran his tongue across them. I couldn't see the wound on Ellie's neck, but I suspected it was bloody and horrible too. Mia and Christian stared wide-eyed, both with fear and fascination. Eddie gazed off in a happy, drugged haze, high from both the endorphins and the compulsion. But Eloise was still awake and alert but slow in her movements as Isaiah tied her onto the chair.  
Isaiah straightened up and smiled at the Moroi, licking the last of the blood off his lips. "You see?" he told them, moving toward the door. "It's just that easy."


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Rose's POV

When I came back into my own world the first thing I was aware of was the room, and then the guards. But then I saw how close Eloise had gotten to me, "Magic" she mouthed at me. Winking. Magic, why hadn't I thought of this before. "Hey," I said loudly. Mia and Mason both jerked in surprise. "Are you guys really going to keep starving us? Can't we at least have some water or something?"  
"Shut up," said one of the guards. It was a pretty standard answer whenever any of us spoke.  
"Come on." I used my best bitchy voice. "Not even like a sip of something? My throat's burning. Practically on fire." My gaze flicked to Christian as I said those last few words, then returned to the guard who'd spoken.  
As expected, he rose from his seat and lurched toward me. "Do not make me repeat myself," he growled. I didn't know if he'd really do anything violent, but I had no interest in pushing it just yet. Besides, I'd accomplished my goal. If Christian couldn't take the hint, there was nothing else to be done for it. Hoping I looked afraid, I shut up.  
The guard returned to his seat, and after a while, he stopped watching me. I looked at Christian again and gave the wrist tug. Come on, come on, I thought. Put it together, Christian.  
His eyebrows suddenly shot up, and he stared at me in amazement. Well. He'd apparently figured out something. I just hoped it was what I'd wanted. His look turned questioning, as though asking if I was really serious. I nodded emphatically. He frowned in thought for a few moments and then took a deep, steadying breath.  
"All right," he said. Everyone jumped again.  
"Shut up," said one of the guards automatically. He sounded weary.  
"No," said Christian. "I'm ready. Ready to drink."  
Everyone in the room froze for the space of a few heartbeats, including me. This wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind.  
The guards' leader stood up. "Do not screw around with us." "I'm not," said Christian. He had a feverish, desperate look on his face that I didn't think was entirely faked. "I'm tired of this. I want to get out of here, and I don't want to die. I'll drink- and I want her." He nodded toward me. Mia squeaked in alarm. Mason called Christian something that would have earned him a detention back at school.  
This definitely wasn't what I'd had in mind. But Eloise was smirking.  
The other two guards looked to their leader questioningly. "Should we get Isaiah?" asked one of them.  
"I don't think he's here," said the leader. He studied Christian for a few seconds and then made a decision. "And I don't want to bother him anyway if this is a joke. Let him go, and we'll see."  
One of the men produced a pair of sharp pliers. He moved behind Christian and leaned down. I heard the sound of plastic popping as the flex-cuffs gave way. Grabbing a hold of Christian's arm, the guard jerked him upright and led him over to me.  
"Christian," exclaimed Mason, fury filling his voice. He struggled against his constraints, shaking his chair a little. "Are you out of your mind? Don't let them do this!"  
"You guys have to die, but I don't," snapped Christian, tossing his black hair out of his eyes. "There's no other way out of this."  
I didn't really know what was going on now, but I was pretty sure I should be showing a lot more emotion if I was about to die. Two guards flanked Christian on either side, watching warily as he leaned toward me.  
"Christian," I whispered, surprised at how easy it was to sound afraid. "Don't do this."  
His lips twisted into one of the bitter smiles he produced so well. "You and I have never liked each other, Rose. If I've got to kill someone, it might as well be you." His words were icy, precise. Believable. "Besides, I thought you wanted this."  
"Not this. Please, don't- "  
One of the guards shoved Christian. "Get it over with, or get back to your chair."  
Still wearing that dark smile, Christian shrugged. "Sorry, Rose. You're going to die anyway. Why not do it for a good cause?" He brought his face down to my neck. "This is probably going to hurt," he added.  
I actually doubted it would ... if he was really going to do it. Because he wasn't...right? I shifted uneasily. By all accounts, if you got all your blood sucked out of you, you also got enough endorphins pumped in during the process to dull most of the pain. It was like going to sleep. Of course, that was all speculation. People who died from vampire bites didn't really come back to report on the experience.  
Christian nuzzled my neck, moving his face under my hair so that it partially obscured him. His lips brushed my skin, every bit as soft as I recalled from when he and Lissa kissed. A moment later, the points of his fangs touched my skin.  
And then I felt pain. Real pain.  
But it wasn't coming from the bite. His teeth only pressed against my skin; they didn't break it. His tongue moved against my neck in a lapping motion, but there was no blood to suck. If anything, it was more like some kind of weird, twisted kiss.  
No, the pain came from my wrists. A burning pain. Christian was using his magic to channel heat into my flex-cuffs, just as I had wanted him to. He'd understood my message. The plastic grew hotter and hotter as he continued his barely there drinking. Anyone who'd been looking closely would have been able to tell he was half-faking it, but too much of my hair was blocking the guards' view.  
I knew plastic was hard to melt, but only now did I really, really understand what that meant. The temperatures required to do any damage were off the charts. It was like plunging my hands into lava. The flex-cuffs seared my skin, hot and terrible. I squirmed, hoping I could relieve the pain. I couldn't. What I did notice, however, was that the cuffs gave a little when I moved. They were getting softer. Okay. That was something. I just had to hold out a little longer. Desperately, I tried to focus on Christian's bite and distract myself. It worked for about five seconds. He wasn't giving me much in the way of endorphins, certainly not enough to combat that increasingly horrible pain. I whimpered, probably making myself more convincing.  
"I can't believe it," muttered one of the guards. "He's actually doing it." Beyond them, I thought I heard the sound of Mia crying.  
The cuffs' burning increased. I'd never felt anything so painful in my life, and I'd been through a lot. Passing out was rapidly becoming a very real possibility.  
"Hey," the guard suddenly said. "What's that smell?"  
That smell was melting plastic. Or maybe my melting flesh. Honestly, it didn't matter because the next time I moved my wrists, they broke through the gooey, scalding cuffs.  
I had ten seconds of surprise, and I used them. I leapt out of my chair, pushing Christian backward in the process. Eloise was up at the same time slashing out at the guard on either side of him. One still had pliers and Eloise grabbed them and slammed them into his neck. He gave some kind of gurgled scream, but I didn't wait to see what happened. My window of surprise was closing, and I couldn't waste time. As soon as I let go of the other pliers, I punched the second guy. My kicks were stronger than my punches as a general rule, but I still hit him hard enough to startle him and make him stagger.  
By then, the guards' leader was in action. As I'd feared, he still had a gun, and he went for it. "Don't move!" he yelled, aiming at me.  
I froze. The guard I'd punched came forward and grabbed my arm. Nearby, the guy I'd stabbed was moaning on the floor. Still training the gun on me, the leader started to say something and then yelped in alarm. The gun glowed faintly orange and fell from his hands. Where he'd held it, the skin burned red and angry. Christian had heated the metal, I realized. Yeah. We definitely should have been using this magic thing from the start. If we got out of this, I was going to take up Tasha's cause. The Moroi anti-magic custom was so instilled in our brains that we hadn't even thought to try this sooner. It was stupid. Eloise grabbed a chair and slammed it down on the leader knocking him out. "Come on." She said. Mason and I helped the rest of them out of their chairs and Eloise stood with the gun in her hand. After releasing Mia and Eddie, the five of us huddled together and planned our next move. Christian and Eddie could barely stand, but at least Christian was aware of his surroundings. Mia's face was streaked with tears, but I suspected she'd be able to take orders. That left Mason and me as the most functional in the group.  
"That guy's watch says it's morning," he said. "All we've got to do is get outside, and they can't touch us. As long as there are no more humans, at least."  
"They said Isaiah was gone," said Mia in a small voice. "We should just be able to leave, right?"  
"Those men haven't left in hours," I said. "They could be wrong. We can't do anything stupid."  
Carefully, Mason opened the door to our room and peered out into the empty hallway. "Think there's a way outside down here?"  
"That'd make our lives easier," I muttered. I glanced back at the others. "Stay here. We're going to check out the rest of the basement."  
"What if somebody comes?" exclaimed Mia.  
"They won't," I assured her. I was actually pretty sure there was no one else in the basement; they would have come running with all that racket. And if anyone tried to come down the stairs, we would hear them first.  
Still, Mason and I moved cautiously as we scouted around the basement, watching each other's backs and checking around corners. It was every bit the rat's maze I remembered from our initial capture. Twisted hallways and lots of rooms. One by one, we opened each door. Every room was empty, save for the occasional chair or two. I shuddered, thinking that all of these were probably used as prisons, just as ours had been. Where the hell did Eloise go.  
"Not a goddamned window in this whole place," I muttered when we'd finished our sweep. "We've got to go upstairs."  
We headed back toward our room, but before we got there, Mason caught hold of my hand. "Rose ..."  
I stopped and looked up at him. "Yeah?"  
His blues eyes- more serious than I'd ever seen them- looked down at me regretfully. "I really screwed things up."  
I thought about all the events that had led to this. "We screwed things up, Mason."  
He sighed. "I hope ... I hope when this is all done, we can sit down and talk and figure things out. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."  
I wanted to tell him that that wasn't going to happen, that when he'd disappeared, I'd actually been on my way to tell him things wouldn't be better between us. Since this didn't seem like the right time or place to bring up a breakup, I lied.  
I squeezed his hand. "I hope so too."  
He smiled, and we returned to the others.  
"All right," I told them. "Here's how it's going to be."  
We quickly hashed out a plan and then crept up the stairs. I led, followed by Mia as she tried to support a reluctant Christian. Mason brought up the rear, practically dragging Eddie.  
"I should be first," Mason murmured as we stood at the top of the stairs.  
"You aren't," I snapped back, resting my hand on the doorknob.  
"Yeah, but if something happens- "  
"Mason," I interrupted. I stared at him hard, and suddenly, I had a brief flash of my mother that day when the Drozdov attack had broken. Calm and controlled, even in the wake of something so horrible. They'd needed a leader, just like this group did now, and I tried as hard as I could to channel her. "If something happens, you get them out of here. Run fast and run far. Do not come back without a herd of guardians."  
"You'll be the one who gets attacked first! What am I supposed to do?" he hissed. "Leave you?"  
"Yes. You forget about me if you can get them out."  
"Rose, I'm not going to- "  
"Mason." I again envisioned my mother, fighting for that strength and power to lead others. "Can you do this or not?"  
We stared at each other for several heavy moments while the others held their breaths.  
"I can do this," he said stiffly. I nodded and turned back around.  
The basement door suddenly opened and Eloise stood there with a pissed off look, "You coming or what?" We grinned up at her bloody form knowing she had taken care of the other guards.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

There were no sounds, no movements. Looking around, I tried to remember where the front door was. It was on the other side of the house- really not far in the grand scheme of things but a gaping chasm at the moment.  
"Scout with me," I whispered to Mason, hoping to make him feel better about bringing up the rear.  
He let Eddie lean on Mia for a moment and stepped forward with me to do a quick sweep of the main living area. Nothing. The path was clear from here to the front door. I exhaled in relief. Mason took hold of Eddie again, and we moved forward, all of us tense and nervous. God. We were going to do this, I realized. We were really going to do this. I couldn't believe how lucky we'd gotten. We'd been so close to disaster- and had just barely made it through. It was one of those moments that made you appreciate your life and want to turn things around. A second chance you swear you won't let go to waste. A realization that-  
I heard them move almost at the same time I saw them step in front of us. It was like a magician conjured Isaiah and Elena out of thin air. Only, I knew there was no magic involved this time. Strigoi just moved that quickly. They must have been in one of the other main floor rooms that we'd assumed were empty- we hadn't wanted to waste the extra time looking. I raged at myself internally for not having checked out every inch of the whole floor. Somewhere, in the back of my memory, I heard myself taunting my mother in Stan's class: "It seems to me like you guys messed up. Why didn't you scope out the place and make sure it was clear of Strigoi in the first place? Seems like you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble."  
Karma's a real bitch.  
"Children, children," crooned Isaiah. "This isn't how the game works. You're breaking the rules." A cruel smile played over his lips. He found us amusing, no real threat at all. Honestly? He was right.  
"Fast and far, Mason," I said in low voice, never taking my eyes off the Strigoi.  
"My, my ... if looks could kill ..." Isaiah arched his eyebrows as something occurred to him. "Are you thinking you can take us both on by yourself?" He chuckled. Elena chuckled. I gritted my teeth.  
No, I didn't think I could take them both on. In fact, I was pretty sure I was going to die. But I was also pretty sure I could provide one hell of a distraction first.  
I lunged toward Isaiah but pulled the gun on Elena. You could get a jump on human guards- but not on Strigoi. They saw me coming practically before I even moved. They didn't expect me to have a gun, though. And while Isaiah blocked my attacking body with almost no effort whatsoever, I still managed to get a shot off at Elena before he seized my arms and restrained me. The gun's report rang loud in my ears, and she screamed in pain and surprise. I'd aimed for her stomach but had been jostled into hitting her thigh. Not that it mattered. Neither spot would kill her, but the stomach would have hurt a lot more.  
Isaiah held my wrists so hard, I thought he'd break the bones. I dropped the gun. It hit the floor, bounced, and slid toward the door. Elena shrieked in rage and clawed at me. Isaiah told her to control herself and pushed me out of reach. All the while, I flailed as much as possible, not so much to escape as to make a nuisance of myself.  
And then: the sweetest of sounds.  
The front door opening.  
Mason had taken advantage of my distraction. He'd left Eddie with Mia and sprinted around me and the grappling Strigoi to open the door. Isaiah turned with that lightning-fast speed of his- and screamed as sunlight poured over him. But even though he was suffering, his reflexes were still fast. He jerked himself out of the patch of light into the living room, dragging Elena and me with him- her by the arm and me by my neck.  
"Get them out!" I yelled.  
"Isaiah- " began Elena, breaking out of his grip.  
He shoved me to the floor and spun around, staring at his escaping victims. I gasped for breath now that his grip on my throat was gone and peered back at the door through the tangle of my hair. I was just in time to see Mason drag Eddie over the threshold, out into the safety of the light. Mia and Christian were already gone. I nearly wept in relief.  
Isaiah turned back on me with all the fury of a storm, his eyes black and terrible as he loomed over me from his great height. His face, which had always been scary, became something almost beyond comprehension. "Monstrous" didn't even begin to cover it.  
He jerked me up by my hair. I cried out at the pain, and he brought his head down so that our faces were pressed up to one another's.  
"You want a bite, girl?" he demanded. "You want to be a blood whore? Well, we can arrange that. In every sense of the word. And it will not be sweet. And it will not be numbing. It will be painful- compulsion works both ways, you know, and I will make sure you believe you are suffering the worst pain of your life. And I will also make sure your death takes a very, very long time. You will scream. You will cry. You will beg me to end it all and let you die- "  
"Isaiah," cried Elena in exasperation. "Just kill her already. If you'd done it sooner like I said, none of this would have happened."  
He kept his grip on me but flicked his eyes toward her. "Do not interrupt me."  
"You're being melodramatic," she continued. Yeah, she really was whiny. I never would have thought a Strigoi could do that. It was almost comical. "And wasteful."  
"Do not talk back to me, either," he said.  
"I'm hungry. I'm just saying you should- "  
"Let her go, or I'll kill you."  
We all turned at the new voice, a voice dark and angry. Mason stood in the doorway, framed in light, holding my dropped gun. Isaiah studied him for a few moments.  
"Sure," Isaiah finally said. He sounded bored. "Try it."  
Mason didn't hesitate. He fired and kept firing until he'd emptied the entire clip into Isaiah's chest. Each bullet made the Strigoi flinch a little, but otherwise, he kept standing and holding on to me. This was what it meant to be an old and powerful Strigoi, I realized. A bullet in the thigh hurt a young vampire like Elena. But for Isaiah? Getting shot in the chest multiple times was simply a nuisance.  
Mason realized this too, and his features hardened as he threw down the gun.  
"Get out!" I screamed. He was still in the sun, still safe.  
But he didn't listen to me. He ran toward us, out of his protective light. I redoubled my struggles, hoping I'd pull Isaiah's attention away from Mason. I didn't. Isaiah shoved me into Elena before Mason was halfway to us. Swiftly, Isaiah blocked and seized hold of Mason, exactly as he'd done to me earlier. Where the hell was Ellie! Almost as I spoke she appeared with a stake fashioned out of wood and plunged it into Isaiah's back. He flinched but simply grabbed Mason's head with both hands, and gave a quick twist. There was a sickening crack. Mason's eyes went wide. Then they went blank.  
With an impatient sigh, Isaiah released his hold and tossed Mason's limp body over toward where Elena held me. It landed before us. My vision swam as nausea and dizziness wrapped around me.  
"There," Isaiah said to Elena. "See if that'll tide you over. And save some for me."

Eloise's POV

"Ellie, I love you too." I plunged the stake into his back but it only worked so well, in a simple movement I heard bones break. My eyes went wide as Isaiah tossed Mason's body over to Elena. Mason was dead. I screamed and Isaiah turned on me as I lashed out at him. He tried to grab me but I spun out of his grasp, "You're well trained. I'll give you that." I kicked him in the shin and he went onto one knee, "Was he special to you? He said he loved you. Did you love him?" I kicked him in the stomach. He stabbed my leg. The aquariam suddenly exploded and water surrounded his head giving me enough time to drive a piece of glass into his heart, and twisted. He shrieked and grabbed my shoulders as the water left his face, "I loved him back. And now you pay for what you did." I twisted the glass even more and he collapsed onto the floor next to me. I heard Rose killing Elena and stabbing her over and over again. "Rose. Rose she's dead." I didn't listen as I crawled over to Mason, blood trailing behind me. I grasped his hand and curled into a ball beside him. A few minutes or hours passed but eventually footsteps where heard, "Stay back." Rose said. I didn't care I just lay there holding onto Mason.

Dimitri's POV

I kneeled next to Eloise she was lying on her side curled into Mason. I cupped her cheek to look at me but her eyes where over my left shoulder before flicking to mine. It reminded me of when I saved her and her sister from her house after her parents were killed. I began to pick her up but she yelled out, "Eloise, come on you can't stay here." She shook her head and clung to him, "Let me say good bye." I let her go and watched as she stroked his face, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." She kissed his lips and ran her hands through his hair. I saw dog tags around his neck so I unhooked it from around his neck and placed it on hers. She smiled a watery smile and kissed him one more time. I picked her up and she rested her head on my shoulder my shirt instantly wetted by her tears. I could feel the blood on my hand from her leg, "Come on. Lets get this cleared up." She didn't say anything but go limp in my hands, her eyes were still open and tears still pouring but she didn't care. She just lay there. When I got her onto the plane she sat there staring straight ahead, not moving not blinking. One of the other guardians sat next to her, placing a blanket over her shoulders, "I want my mum." She whispered it but we all heard it. She needed someone who loved her to hold her. I looked back at Roza and found her sobbing into her mother's shoulder and Ellie was crying silently into the guardian next to her. They had both lost someone they loved. Ellie more than Rose.

Eloise's POV

It was warm on the day Rose and I received our marks. When Dimitri found me I was with Eddie curled up in his room, "Time to go, Eloise." I took a shuddering breath and stood. Eddie and I had walked away from Spokane with bite marks and a few cuts and bruises but we were scarred for life. Dimitri helped me walk out of Eddie's room and too the guardians building. I went first getting my mark and sliding off the stool to stand with Alberta and Dimitri. Everyone went up to Rose and gave her a welcome hug or kiss. I moved up to Lionel, the tattoo artist. "I need a tattoo." He nodded and led me into another room, "For Mason." He said cupping the back of my neck. Half an hour later I had a tattoo on my back near my right hip bone., 'Released from my hands, sealed in my heart.' With Masons birthday next to it. He bandaged it up and pecked my cheek, "We all have them." He whispered showing me his mothers birth and death date. I nodded and headed back to the 'party.' After awhile though Rose and I headed to our morning practice. Eddie and I held hands the whole lesson.

"Come on, Rose," begged Shane Reyes. They knew well enough not to ask me. "Yeah, come on. Let's see what you got for your swordsmanship!"  
She turned and looked back at us, my eyes stared blankly at her and Eddie gave her a small smile. We understood.  
"Sorry, guys," I said, turning back to the others. "They have to stay bandaged. Doctor's orders."

The end of the day didn't arrive quick enough I was walking with Alli who had her arm around my waist, "I'm sorry about Mason, Eloise." She said stopping. Mase had been like an elder brother to her and she missed him almost as much as Eddie did. I brushed away one of her tears, "I am too." She smiled and walked off. "Hey gorgeous." I turned to see Adrian giving me a small sad smile. "Hey, so I heard you were staying for awhile." HE took a step forward, "That doesn't matter right now. How are you feeling?" He said helping me over to a bench, "Shock, devastation, denial, every possible form of grief." He touched my cheek. "I'm sorry about you friend." He whispered. "It's my fault he's dead." He gripped my face between his firm fingers, "No it's not. You made some dumb decisions and so did he but in the end it wasn't his or your fault. It was the person that killed him" I leant into his shoulder, "you're good at the whole comforting thing you know?" I could hear the smile in his voice when he talked, "Yeah I know." I stood up and held out my hand, "Come on. I want to show you something." He took it, "We going on a crazy adventure?" I smiled and walked towards the woods, "One of the best adventures you can ever have." He pulled my arm, "Should I be afraid?" I smiled and winked, "Terrified."


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey guys, so I've gotten a few reviews for this story and I don't want to make people review but they would be muche appreciated :D A massive thankyou to ****LoveIsAllWeNeed for your review, it meant a lot to me, so this chapter and every other chapter is for you :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy and any quotes or content you read belongs to Richelle Mead. **

Rose's POV

His finger slid along my back, applying hardly any pressure, yet sending shock waves over my flesh. Slowly, slowly, his hands moved across my skin, down the sides of my stomach to finally rest in the curves of my hips. Just below my ear, I felt his lips press against my neck, followed by another kiss just below it, then another, then another. ...  
His lips moved from my neck toward my cheek and then finally found my mouth. We kissed, wrapping ourselves closer together. My blood burned within me, and I felt more alive in that moment than I ever had. I loved him, loved Christian so much that -  
Christian?  
Oh no.  
Some coherent part of me immediately realized what was happening - and boy, was it pissed off. The rest of me, however, was still actually living in this encounter, experiencing it as though I was the one being touched and kissed. That part of me couldn't break away. I'd merged too much with Lissa, and for all intents and purposes, this was happening to me.  
No, I told myself sternly. It's not real - not for you. Get out of there.  
But how could I listen to logic when every nerve of my body was being set on fire?  
You aren't her. This isn't your head. Get out.  
His lips. There was nothing in the world right now except his lips.  
It's not him. Get out.  
The kisses were the same, exactly as I remembered with him. ...  
No, it's not Dimitri. Get out!  
Dimitri's name was like cold water hitting me in the face. I got out.  
I sat upright in my bed, suddenly feeling smothered. I tried kicking off the covers but mostly ended up entangling my legs even more. My heart beat hard in my chest, and I tried to take deep breaths to steady myself and return to my own reality.  
Times sure had changed. A long time ago, Lissa's nightmares used to wake me from sleep. Now her sex life did. To say the two were a little different would be an understatement. I'd actually gotten the hang of blocking out her romantic interludes - at least when I was awake. This time, Lissa and Christian had (unintentionally) outsmarted me. In sleep, my defenses were down, allowing strong emotions to pass through the psychic link that connected me to my best friend. This wouldn't have been a problem if the two of them had been in bed like normal people - and by "being in bed," I mean "asleep."  
"God," I muttered, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. My voice was muffled in a yawn. Couldn't Lissa and Christian have seriously kept their hands off each other until waking hours?  
Worse than being woken up, though, was the way I still felt. Sure, none of that making out had actually happened to me. It hadn't been my skin being touched or my lips being kissed. Yet my body seemed to feel the loss of it nonetheless. It had been a very long time since I'd been in that kind of situation. I ached and felt warm all over. It was idiotic, but suddenly, desperately, I wanted someone to touch me - even just to hold me. But definitely not Christian. The memory of those lips on mine flashed back through my mind, how they'd felt, and how my sleepy self had been so certain it was Dimitri kissing me.  
I stood up on shaky legs, feeling restless and ... well, sad. Sad and empty. Needing to walk off my weird mood, I put on a robe and slippers and left my room for the bathroom down the hall. I splashed cool water on my face and stared in the mirror. The reflection looking back at me had tangled hair and bloodshot eyes. I looked sleep-deprived, but I didn't want to go back to bed. I didn't want to risk falling asleep quite yet. I needed something to wake me up and shake away what I'd seen.  
I left the bathroom and turned toward the stairwell, my feet light on the steps as I went downstairs. The first floor of my dorm was still and quiet. It was almost noon - the middle of the night for vampires, since they ran on a nocturnal schedule. Lurking near the edge of a doorway, I scanned the lobby. It was empty, save for the yawning Moroi man sitting at the front desk. He leafed halfheartedly through a magazine, held to consciousness only by the finest of threads. He came to the magazine's end and yawned again. Turning in his revolving chair, he tossed the magazine on a table behind him and reached for what must have been something else to read.  
While his back was turned, I darted past him toward the set of double doors that opened outside. Praying the doors wouldn't squeak, I carefully opened one a crack, just enough to slip through. Once outside, I eased the door shut as gently as possible. No noise. At most, the guy would feel a draft. Feeling like a ninja, I stepped out into the light of day.  
Cold wind blasted me in the face, but it was exactly what I needed. Leafless tree branches swayed in that wind, clawing at the sides of the stone dorm like fingernails. The sun peeped at me from between lead-colored clouds, further reminding me that I should be in bed and asleep. Squinting at the light, I tugged my robe tighter and walked around the side of the building, toward a spot between it and the gym that wasn't quite so exposed to the elements. The slush on the sidewalk soaked into the cloth of my slippers, but I didn't care.  
Yeah, it was a typically miserable winter day in Montana, but that was the point. The crisp air did a lot to wake me up and chase off the remnants of the virtual love scene. Plus, it kept me firmly in my own head. Focusing on the cold in my body was better than remembering what it had felt like to have Christian's hands on me. Standing there, staring off at a cluster of trees without really seeing them, I was surprised to feel a spark of anger at Lissa and Christian. It must be nice, I thought bitterly, to do whatever the hell you wanted. Lissa had often commented that she wished she could feel my mind and experiences the way I could feel hers. The truth was, she had no idea how lucky she was. She had no idea what it was like to have someone else's thoughts intruding on yours, someone else's experiences muddling yours. She didn't know what it was like to live with someone else's perfect love life when your own was nonexistent. She didn't understand what it was like to be filled with a love so strong that it made your chest ache - a love you could only feel and not express. Keeping love buried was a lot like keeping anger pent up, I'd learned. It just ate you up inside until you wanted to scream or kick something.  
No, Lissa didn't understand any of that. She didn't have to. She could carry on with her own romantic affairs, with no regard for what she was doing to me.  
I noticed then that I was breathing heavily again, this time with rage. The icky feeling I'd felt over Lissa and Christian's late-night hookup was gone. It had been replaced by anger and jealousy, feelings born of what I couldn't have and what came so easily to her. I tried my best to swallow those emotions back; I didn't want to feel that way toward my best friend.  
"Are you sleepwalking?" a voice asked behind me.  
I spun around, startled. Dimitri stood there watching me, looking both amused and curious. It would figure that while I was raging over the problems in my unfair love life, the source of those problems would be the one to find me. I hadn't heard him approach at all. So much for my ninja skills. And honestly, would it have killed me to pick up a brush before I went outside? Hastily, I ran a hand through my long hair, knowing it was a little too late. It probably looked like an animal had died on top of my head.  
"I was testing dorm security," I said. "It sucks."  
A hint of a smile played over his lips. The cold was really starting to seep into me now, and I couldn't help but notice how warm his long leather coat looked. I wouldn't have minded wrapping up in it.  
As though reading my mind, he said, "You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?"  
I shook my head, deciding not to mention that I couldn't feel my feet. "I'm fine. What are you doing out here? Are you testing security too?"  
"I am security. This is my watch." Shifts of school guardians always patrolled the grounds while everyone else slept. Strigoi, the undead vampires who stalked living Moroi vampires like Lissa, didn't come out in sunlight, but students breaking rules - say, like, sneaking out of their dorms - were a problem night and day.  
"Well, good work," I said. "I'm glad I was able to help test your awesome skills. I should be going now."  
"Rose - " Dimitri's hand caught my arm, and despite all the wind and chill and slush, a flash of heat shot through me. He released me with a start, as though he too had been burned. "What are you really doing out here?"  
He was using the stop fooling around voice, so I gave him as truthful an answer as I could. "I had a bad dream. I wanted some air."  
"And so you just rushed out. Breaking the rules didn't even cross your mind - and neither did putting on a coat."  
"Yeah," I said. "That pretty much sums it up."  
"Rose, Rose." This time it was his exasperated voice. "You never change. Always jumping in without thinking."  
"That's not true," I protested. "I've changed a lot."  
The amusement on his face suddenly faded, his expression growing troubled. He studied me for several moments. Sometimes I felt as though those eyes could see right into my soul. "You're right. You have changed."  
He didn't seem very happy about the admission. He was probably thinking about what had happened almost three weeks ago, when some friends and I had gotten ourselves captured by Strigoi. It was only through sheer luck that we'd managed to escape - and not all of us had gotten out. Mason, a good friend and a guy who'd been crazy about me, had been killed, and part of me would never forgive myself for it, even though I'd killed his murderers.  
It had given me a darker outlook on life. Well, it had given everyone here at St. Vladimir's Academy a darker outlook, but me especially. Others had begun to notice the difference in me. I didn't like to see Dimitri concerned, though, so I played off his observation with a joke.  
"Well, don't worry. My birthday's coming up. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'll be an adult, right? I'm sure I'll wake up that morning and be all mature and stuff."  
As I'd hoped, his frown softened into a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure. What is it, about a month?"  
"Thirty-one days," I announced primly.  
"Not that you're counting."  
I shrugged, and he laughed.  
"I suppose you've made a birthday list too. Ten pages? Single-spaced? Ranked by order of priority?" The smile was still on his face. It was one of the relaxed, genuinely amused ones that were so rare to him.  
I started to make another joke, but the image of Lissa and Christian flared into my mind again. That sad and empty feeling in my stomach returned. Anything I might have wanted - new clothes, an iPod, whatever - suddenly seemed trivial. What did material things like that mean compared to the one thing I wanted most of all? God, I really had changed.  
"No," I said in a small voice. "No list."  
He tilted his head to better look at me, making some of his shoulder-length hair blow into his face. His hair was brown, like mine, but not nearly as dark. Mine looked black at times. He brushed the unruly strands aside, only to have them immediately blow back into his face. "I can't believe you don't want anything. It's going to be a boring birthday."  
Freedom, I thought. That was the only gift I longed for. Freedom to make my own choices. Freedom to love who I wanted.  
"It doesn't matter," I said instead.  
"What do you - " He stopped. He understood. He always did. It was part of why we connected like we did, in spite of the seven-year gap in our ages. We'd fallen for each other last fall when he'd been my combat instructor. As things heated up between us, we'd found we had more things to worry about than just age. We were both going to be protecting Lissa when she graduated, and we couldn't let our feelings for each other distract us when she was our priority.  
Of course, that was easier said than done because I didn't think our feelings for each other were ever really going to go away. We'd both had moments of weakness, moments that led to stolen kisses or saying things we really shouldn't have. After I'd escaped the Strigoi, Dimitri had told me he loved me and had pretty much admitted he could never be with anyone else because of that. Yet, it had also become clear that we still couldn't be together either, and we had both slipped back into our old roles of keeping away from each other and pretending that our relationship was strictly professional.  
In a not-so-obvious attempt to change the subject, he said, "You can deny it all you want, but I know you're freezing. Let's go inside. I'll take you in through the back." As we walked through the back I heard laughter and saw Adrian walking with a pretty blonde under his arm, he had his head thrown back in a laugh, "Come on gorgeous. They can let you off for a few hours." He said and I heard a laugh. Eloise's laugh. "No they cannot, I have a duty and you are distracting me from it." She pushed him away and then saw us and saw us. Adrian tried not to laugh as she did the Guardian nod, "Miss Kosev I do believe you have a job to do right now." Dimitri said and she pursed her lips, "Of course Guardian Belikov. I was just escorting Mr Iskhakov back to his room. Please do excuse us." She began to walk away and Adrian followed like a little puppy. "What was that all about? She has Guardian duties?" I asked looking up at Dimitri. He sighed, "She has had more experience then-" he began but I cut over him. "More experience? I've killed as well! I should be able to help the guardians!" I growled out, "Rose, do you know how old Eloise is?" I looked at him, "Seventeen. Same as us, right?" He shook his head. He sighed and looked down at me, "She's nineteen. She decided to keep going in school as long as possible ever since her parents died to watch over Alli. Headmistress Kirova said she could put her into your year." "But what about next year, when we graduate. And Alli is still here?" I asked "My guess is she will ask to stay here until Alli is ready to leave." I was about to reply. "Belikov!"  
A voice was carried on the wind from behind us. Dimitri muttered something, and then shoved me further around the corner I'd just rounded. "Stay out of sight."  
I ducked down behind a bank of holly trees that flanked the building. They didn't have any berries, but the thick clusters of sharp, pointed leaves scratched where my skin was exposed. Considering the freezing temperature and possible discovery of my late-night walk, a few scratches were the least of my problems right now.  
"You're not on watch," I heard Dimitri say several moments later.  
"No, but I needed to talk to you." I recognized the voice. It belonged to Alberta, captain of the Academy's guardians. "It'll just take a minute. We need to shuffle some of the watches while you're at the trial."  
"I figured," he said. There was a funny, almost uncomfortable note in his voice. "It's going to put a strain on everyone else - bad timing."  
"Yes, well, the queen runs on her own schedule." Alberta sounded frustrated, and I tried to figure out what was going on. "Celeste will take your watches, and she and Emil will divide up your training times."  
Training times? Dimitri wouldn't be conducting any trainings next week because - Ah. That was it, I realized. The field experience. Tomorrow kicked off six weeks of hands-on practice for us novices. We'd have no classes and would get to protect Moroi night and day while the adults tested us. The "training times" must be when Dimitri would be out participating in that. But what was this trial she'd mentioned? Did they mean like the final trials we had to undergo at the end of the school year?  
"They say they don't mind the extra work," continued Alberta, "but I was wondering if you could even things out and take some of their shifts before you leave?" "Absolutely," he said, words still short and stiff.  
"Thanks. I think that'll help." She sighed. "I wish I knew how long this trial was going to be. I don't want to be away that long. You'd think it'd be a done deal with Dashkov, but now I hear the queen's getting cold feet about imprisoning a major royal."  
I stiffened. The chill running through me now had nothing to do with the winter day. Dashkov?  
"I'm sure they'll do the right thing," said Dimitri. I realized at that moment why he wasn't saying much. This wasn't something I was supposed to hear.  
"I hope so. And I hope it'll only take a few days, like they claim. Look, it's miserable out here. Would you mind coming into the office for a second to look at the schedule?"  
"Sure," he said. "Let me check on something first."  
"All right. See you soon."  
Silence fell, and I had to assume Alberta was walking away. Sure enough, Dimitri rounded the corner and stood in front of the holly. I shot up from my hiding spot. The look on his face told me he already knew what was coming.  
"Rose - "  
"Dashkov?" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice low so Alberta wouldn't hear. "As in Victor Dashkov?"  
He didn't bother denying it. "Yes. Victor Dashkov."  
"And you guys were talking about...Do you mean..." I was so startled, so dumbstruck, that I could barely get my thoughts together. This was unbelievable. "I thought he was locked up! Are you saying he hasn't been on trial yet?"  
Yes. This was definitely unbelievable. Victor Dashkov. The guy who'd stalked Lissa and tortured her mind and body in order to control her powers. Every Moroi could use magic in one of the four elements: earth, air, water, or fire. Lissa, however, worked an almost unheard of fifth element called spirit. She could heal anything - including the dead. It was the reason I was now psychically linked to her - "shadow-kissed," some called it. She'd brought me back from the car accident that had killed her parents and brother, binding us together in a way that allowed me to feel her thoughts and experiences.  
Victor had learned long before any of us that she could heal, and he'd wanted to lock her away and use her as his own personal Fountain of Youth. He also hadn't hesitated to kill anyone who got in his way - or, in the case of Dimitri and me, use more creative ways to stop his opponents. I'd made a lot of enemies in seventeen years, but I was pretty sure there was no one I hated as much as Victor Dashkov - at least among the living.  
Dimitri had a look on his face I knew well. It was the one he got when he thought I might punch someone. "He's been locked up - but no, no trial yet. Legal proceedings sometimes take a long time."  
"But there's going to be a trial now? And you're going?" I spoke through clenched teeth, trying to be calm. I suspected I still had the I'm going to punch someone look on my face.  
"Next week. They need me and some of the other guardians to testify about what happened to you and Lissa that night." His expression changed at the mention of what had occurred four months ago, and again, I recognized the look. It was the fierce, protective one he got when those he cared about were in danger.  
"Call me crazy for asking this, but, um, are Lissa and I going with you?" I had already guessed the answer, and I didn't like it.  
"No."  
"No?"  
"No."  
I put my hands on my hips. "Look, doesn't it seem reasonable that if you're going to talk about what happened to us, then you should have us there?"  
Dimitri, fully in strict-instructor mode now, shook his head. "The queen and some of the other guardians thought it'd be best if you didn't go. There's enough evidence between the rest of us, and besides, criminal or not, he is - or was - one of the most powerful royals in the world. Those who know about this trial want to keep it quiet."  
"So, what, you thought if you brought us, we'd tell everyone?" I exclaimed. "Come on, comrade. You really think we'd do that? The only thing we want is to see Victor locked up. Forever. Maybe longer. And if there's a chance he might walk free, you have to let us go."  
After Victor had been caught, he'd been taken to prison, and I'd thought that was where the story had ended. I'd figured they'd locked him up to rot. It had never occurred to me - though it should have - that he'd need a trial first. At the time, his crimes had seemed so obvious. But, although the Moroi government was secret and separate from the human one, it operated in a lot of the same ways. Due process and all that.  
"It's not my decision to make," Dimitri said.  
"But you have influence. You could speak up for us, especially if..." Some of my anger dimmed just a little, replaced by a sudden and startling fear. I almost couldn't say the next words. "Especially if there really is a chance he might get off. Is there? Is there really a chance the queen could let him go?"  
"I don't know. There's no telling what she or some of the other high-up royals will do sometimes." He suddenly looked tired. He reached into his pocket and tossed over a set of keys. "Look, I know you're upset, but we can't talk about it now. I have to go meet Alberta, and you need to get inside. The square key will let you in the far side door. You know the one."  
I did. "Yeah. Thanks."  
I was sulking and hated to be that way - especially since he was saving me from getting in trouble - but I couldn't help it. Victor Dashkov was a criminal - a villain, even. He was power-hungry and greedy and didn't care who he stepped on to get his way. If he were loose again...well, there was no telling what might happen to Lissa or any other Moroi. It enraged me to think that I could do something to help put him away but that no one would let me do it.  
I'd taken a few steps forward when Dimitri called out from behind me. "Rose?" I glanced back. "I'm sorry," he said. He paused, and his expression of regret turned wary. "And you'd better bring the keys back tomorrow."


End file.
